


Break My Heart

by OMGitsgreen



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Complete, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Romance, Fluff and Humor, Gen, M/M, Mostly Canon Compliant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slight Canon Divergence, Three Days in the Infirmary (Percy Jackson), bi!Will Solace, but with a twist!, rom-com set up, whose idea was it to give teenagers weapons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-29
Updated: 2017-12-19
Packaged: 2018-10-25 04:54:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 63,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10757115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OMGitsgreen/pseuds/OMGitsgreen
Summary: “Well, since starting anything with Nico di Angelo obviously isn’t going to go anywhere, and I had no idea why, I…I guess I’m just not going to go for it. If I tried it would be a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Will said as he waved off Cecil. “I mean, how hard could not falling for one boy be?”In the aftermath of the battle Will has a strange dream, one that seems to predict his heart being broken by Nico di Angelo. The only problem being, Will has only really talked to him once. Will makes up his mind then and there that falling in love with a boy that will only end up breaking his heart is the last thing he will do. Or so he hopes. *COMPLETE*





	1. The Dream

**Author's Note:**

> I've always wanted to write a Three Days fic, but so many other authors have done it and have done it so well. So, instead imagine you take your average “Three Days in the Infirmary” fic, and then add a rom-com twist. This would be your fic! Right now it's planned out to be about 10-ish chapters, but we'll see! 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

It was a dream.

A caveat being that it wasn’t just a dream. Demigods, as Will Solace had learned early on, don’t just have casual viewing experiences. Especially if the demigod in question was a child of Apollo, who was indeed the god in charge of prophecy despite all of Apollo’s notoriously bad decision making. That didn’t mean that Will couldn’t have your run-of-the-mill weird trippy nonsensical dreams, or other dreams that tended to be inappropriate for young impressionable demigods. But that did mean that Will had to be able to tell the difference between the two, and the difference was always this: in regular dreams the scenery would be foggy, whereas the prophetic dreams were sharp, colorful, and loud.

And that was what this dream was; it was vivid, it was real, it was prophetic…it was about Nico di Angelo?

They were sitting together at the end of the dock, the autumn breeze crisp and clean as it flitted from the lake carrying with it the scent mist and strawberry. The sky was almost blindingly bright and blue, while the trees were just tinged with just a blush of color. Will turned to the boy next to him, noting his leather jacket and feeling a thrill that nearly set his heart on fire. The Will who was a part of this dream welcomed it, while he succumbed to his confusion.

“Will…I…” Nico was saying to him, looking up at him with eyes wide and…was that a blush staining his cheeks? And he looked healthier than any time that Will could ever remember Nico di Angelo being, his cheeks filled out, the dark bruises under his eyes only shading them, his hair pulled back in a little ponytail, and his skin had color to it versus the warmed-over-corpse white shade he had been on Half Blood Hill during the battle.

And Will was holding his hand (how had he not noticed that was beyond him, but somehow it felt natural, so natural), and Nico’s fingers were curled with his own instead judo-flipping him and killing him with a well-placed strike. On that note, why were his own nails painted?

“Am I…is this…alright?” Will’s mouth moved and asked, and Will could feel his own cheeks heat up in return. He was just wearing a flannel and jeans but he felt entirely too warm, as if he would explode from nerves. Nico didn’t move, something guarded in his expression, before he met Will’s gaze evenly. It was intense and dark, and Will could feel his stomach twist up in a hundred knots.

“Hey Will?”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t think we should do this anymore.”

* * *

Will woke up with a start, his heart racing in his chest. He felt like the rug had been pulled out from underneath him, he felt the sickening feeling in his stomach as if he had just missed a step on the stairs and his foot had fallen through the air, he felt the recoiling blow of rejection like a slap to the face. The dream was there, and he replayed it in his mind again and again as his heart rate fell, trying to parcel out some sense from it but finding nothing. 

“What in the name of the Gods?” Will asked himself, before looking around his mostly empty cabin. Thankfully the younger kids were still asleep, not disturbed by his sudden outburst. Kayla and Austin were probably still in the infirmary with Roman children of Apollo who had accompanied the legion to Camp Half Blood. And it was still before dawn, probably too early for him to be getting up. But if Will was good at one thing, it was avoiding his own problems by helping to solve other people’s. And this dream was something he definitely wanted to avoid before being more awake to deal with it (or possibly never).

And so Will crossed the camp in the dark after throwing on some fresh clothes and a sweatshirt, and walked into the infirmary. Phoebe looked up from the desk at him in confusion. She was the leader of the Roman medics, and had been nice enough once they had gotten past the initial awkwardness. That awkwardness being attributed to an unfortunate relative of both of them named Octavian, and though Phoebe had definitely not been a fan of the guy, there was also the principle of the matter. Will supposed they both had inherited Apollo’s protective nature in the end, and death wasn’t easy for either of them. So they had mostly agreed to focus on their work, and leave everything else to fall as it would.

“You are here early,” Phoebe observed stately, taking another sip of her coffee. 

“Anyone I can help?” Will asked, sitting himself up on the desk and looking through a chart. With his general level of sleep deprivation and dyslexia, he barely made any progress before the words began shifting on the page.

“You know that you should be sleeping, you need the rest,” Phoebe pointed out to him, running a hand through her hair.

“I had a weird dream is all, I’m not going to be falling back asleep anytime soon,” Will dismissed her, shoving the dream as far back as he could in his head for the moment.

“Well, if you must, check out Alicia’s leg, you know, the child of Mercury. She was awake and groaning about it earlier, but I also have a feeling she was trying to pickpocket Kayla and she isn’t awake enough to ward off attacks,” Phoebe told him with a huff, standing up to go to the coffee pot and pour him a cup with a splash of cream and sugar. She handed it to him, and Will smiled back gratefully before going to do just that.

Alicia’s leg was in good condition and healing well, and Will managed to avoid any wandering fingers. Ellis Wakefield’s broken ribs were on the mend, and Will knew that because Ellis could hiss out insults after being poked and prodded with minimal gasping. Lacey from Aphrodite was sleeping soundly and the cut on her forehead was looking fine, while Nyssa from Hephaestus’ fingers were looking much less swollen. And Suzuka Yamato, a Mars legacy, reported her head was feeling better by communicating with both him and Ellis Wakefield in a series of expletives in Japanese, Latin, and English.

He continued to do the rounds, scooting his tired siblings who had done the nightshift out of the infirmary to get some rest, and tugged at his sweatshirt’s sleeve absently. The sensation reminded him of what he was working so hard to avoid, and eventually he had to say something to someone.

“Hey, Phoebe, has Nico di Angelo come in at all?” Will asked Phoebe, trying to be as nonchalant as possible, as he returned to the desk with the excuse of making a fresh cup of coffee.

“You mean the son of Hades?” Phoebe asked, her eyebrows drawn. “I haven’t seen him. Why? Should I have?”

“Well…I told him to report to the infirmary for three days,” Will excused quickly. “I guess this means I have to go get him.”

“Well, I would rather you not die. I will talk to Chiron about it,” Phoebe said with a sniff. “I’m sure he’ll corral him and have a conversation about the importance of healing wounds.”

“Nico wouldn’t—“

Phoebe’s look was enough to get Will to do the smart thing and shut up. And maybe she had a point. After all, Nico had apparently been the one who would break up with him, so maybe the guy secretly hated him and would try to fight him if he approached. But that still didn’t mean that he should let Nico be injured, the more rational part of Will’s brain pointed out, and if they had at least had a _thing_ or would have a _thing_ then maybe Nico also liked him somewhat. (And Will had to admit, after the birthing and just running into the field of battle, he had been hopped up on adrenalin and had probably been more forceful then he had needed to be, and he had been previously hoping the days in the infirmary would give him a chance to apologize.) But the whole _thing_ didn’t make any sense to begin with, Will tried to reason back. Everyone knew that Nico had had a crush on Annabeth Chase. Maybe Nico was bi? Maybe Will would have just been the unfortunate rebound. Or maybe Will had been making the moves on him and was about to be rejected—

Will’s head hurt, and he desperately needed council. So Will went to sit next to Cecil who was nursing a pulled tendon and a sprained ankle. He poked his very good friend awake, and like a true friend Cecil blinked awake, groaned, and then immediately turned over. 

“Bro…no…just no…” Cecil groaned dramatically, trying to dig himself back under the covers like a bear attempting to return to hibernation. Will wasn’t having it.

“Cecil, please, I need to talk to someone I think I’m going crazy,” Will told him as he pulled off the covers, Cecil sat up to snatch them back and Will let them go.

“Yeah you have to be pretty freaking mental to be up so early, and making me be up so early!” Cecil snapped back, before seemingly giving in and laying back down. “Alright, alright, I’m awake. What do you need?”

“I had a dream, but it wasn’t just a dream it was a prophetic dream,” Will tried to explain before realizing that had not been an explanation and groaning.

“Okay? And? You get those sometimes right?”

“Well yeah…but this one was different…it…” Will trailed off before shifting uncomfortably. Cecil did not look amused by Will’s fidgeting and rolled his eyes as he reached over to swipe Will’s coffee.

“Alright Will, seriously spit it out—“

“Nico di Angelo was breaking up with me,” Will blurted out.

Cecil immediately choked and coughed out the liquid, and after getting through the worst of his coughing fit, Cecil stared at Will with something akin to disbelief as he set Will’s coffee back on the side table.

“You’re joking, that’s supposed to be funny right,” Cecil said as he wiped his face with his arm, and when seeing the suffering look on Will’s face he broke out into a grin, “wait you aren’t joking? Seriously? Damn Solace you’ve got so much game you see it ending before it even starts.”

“Okay seriously I’m having a moment so I would appreciate some concern,” Will groaned as he let his head fall into his hands. “You can at least pretend to be my actual friend.”

“Why would I do that when this is so much more fun,” Cecil noted before humming as he laid back against the pillows, “that’s crazy though, seriously.”

“I know, you’re telling me!” Will said as spun on his chair absently.

“And you are sure it was a prophecy, and not just some weird lucid dream?” Cecil asked seriously, a brow quirking in his favor. Will dismissed it with a glum shake of his head. 

“Yeah, I can tell the difference. It was prophetic, very prophetic, with the sense of impending doom and everything,” Will explained nervously as he continued to spin, until he got dizzy and settled with nervously tapping his foot to the frantic rhythm of his panic instead.

“Well tell me what happened,” Cecil said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

And so he did, recounting the plot of dream, every little detail he remembered, and the state that he woke up in. Cecil hummed and nodded along, only interjecting once or twice for clarification. At the end, they both sat quietly for a moment, the infirmary coming to life as Roman demigods did their rounds. Cecil finally broke the silence,

“We’re pretty sure that Nico was breaking up with you. Or at least rejecting you. And the way you describe the dream…well…it sounds like it took place a few months from now. It had to at least be September or October-ish.”

“So what should I do?”

“Well, I don’t know. Do you like Nico di Angelo?” Cecil asked curiously without judgment.

“I…he’s cool, and heroic, and he’s pretty attractive. You saw him in the battle, and I do want to help him. But I don’t know, it’s hard to _like_ like a person I don’t know. And I don’t really know him,” Will said in return with a noncommittal shrug.

“Apparently, you are going to get to know him pretty well,” Cecil pointed out and he flipped to laying on his stomach. “Well enough that you are going to start dating, or at least making moves on him.”

“Don’t be a douche,” Will told him with a sigh.

“Okay, but in all seriousness. What are you going to do?” Cecil asked him, resting his chin on his hands. “Not all of us get dreams to give us forewarnings about the treacherous nature of the dating waters, so how will you use your newly acquired powers?” 

“Well, since starting anything with Nico di Angelo obviously isn’t going to go anywhere, and I had no idea why, I…I guess I’m just not going to go for it. If I tried it would be a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Will said as he waved off Cecil. “I mean, how hard could not falling for one boy be?”

“Infamous last words,” Cecil noted as he lay back down completely. “Don’t worry there are way more fish in the sea.”

“What am I? Percy Jackson? I—at least get your leg elevated,” Will muttered as he pulled pillows from the side and helped Cecil get readjusted with a small piece of ambrosia, not bothering to address the implications of Cecil’s previous comment.

Will left Cecil’s bedside soon after that and Phoebe immediately looked towards him.

“Chiron’s going to bring Nico di Angelo in later,” Phoebe reported without any preface. “He said he was going to have words with him, so, let’s hope for the best.

“Alright,” Will said before putting on his best smile, which felt oddly placed. “Better get to work then.”


	2. Processions and Hymns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Well, since starting anything with Nico di Angelo obviously isn’t going to go anywhere, and I had no idea why, I…I guess I’m just not going to go for it. If I tried it would be a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Will said as he waved off Cecil. “I mean, how hard could not falling for one boy be?”
> 
> In the aftermath of the battle Will has a strange dream, one that seems to predict his heart being broken by Nico di Angelo. The only problem being, Will has only really talked to him once. Will makes up his mind then and there that falling in love with a boy that will only end up breaking his heart is the last thing he will do. Or so he hopes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Consider this Hour 1 of the “Three Days”: In which Will and Nico are both awkward, but I love that about them. And neither of them know how to interact, like at all. But somehow I find that to be ceaselessly charming. And they are both gigantic nerds. Enjoy!

Will wasn’t sure what exactly he was expecting when Nico di Angelo showed up in the infirmary. Maybe a procession of evil and dark spirits, maybe his Stygian Iron blade glinting and ready for battle, maybe a foreboding scowl. But instead Will got none of those things. Instead he got a kid who looked seriously uncomfortable in his own skin, who was swimming in pair of ratty grey sweat pants and a black tee shirt both two sizes too big for him, and Chiron looking back at Will and down at Nico with an expression that read something like: _Now, you know what you’ve done is wrong, apologize to him young man or don’t be expecting to see much of your phone over this weekend because you are grounded._

“I’m…sorry I didn’t come here sooner,” Nico said, sounding out the words like they were hard to say. Chiron’s brows shot up and Nico continued to choke through his words. “I forgot. I did. Things were happening, and…yeah.”

“See, was that so hard?” Chiron asked him sincerely, and by the pained look on Nico’s face and the fact that Nico was a son of Hades, Will guess it actually was difficult for him to force out even a sincerely meant but unenthusiastically given apology. But instead of saying what Will suspected, Nico just swallowed and shrugged, and Chiron put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. “Good, Will, I leave Mr. di Angelo in your capable hands.”

On that note, Chiron left Nico behind (promising Nico in a low hushed voice that he would check back in later to make sure he had stayed put). Nico seemed like he didn’t know what to do with his hands…or his whole self, and continued to stand looking around the infirmary with thinly veiled disinterest. Will had a strange feeling settling in his stomach, but he swallowed it down and in spite of himself waved for Nico to follow him. Will picked a mostly secluded section, hoping the privacy would be better suited for him. Nico sat down on an empty bed without a fight as Will grabbed his medical supplies. When Will looked up after he brought a table over, Nico was looking at Will and his various scalpels and scissors with something akin to morbid fascination.

“Do you have any relevant medical history that I should know about before we get started here?” Will asked as he arranged his medical kit.

“I…I was slashed?” Nico stated but it sounded more like a question. Will looked up, expecting Nico to have a wry smile or a glint in his eyes, but instead he was met with straightforward confusion. Laughter attempted to bubble up and Will unsuccessfully attempted to squash it.

“What I meant by medical history was _do you have any preexisting conditions or allergies I should know about_ , but yes, knowing you’ve been beaten up five ways to Sunday is also useful,” Will said unable to help his grin which wormed its way onto his face. Will wasn’t sure what he expected Nico to do, but it wasn’t having Nico lay back against the pillows, and stare up at the ceiling as a long-suffering look claimed his features.

“Why do I even bother to live when I am so socially inept,” Nico asked no one in particular, and Will finally couldn’t help it as he finally burst out into hearty laughter.

“Hey, it’s alright. We all mess up sometimes,” Will encouraged him as he pulled on his latex gloves. “Where were you, as you delicately put it, slashed?”

Nico motioned to his shoulder, which on closer inspection of the movement did appear relatively stiff. After Will directed Nico to remove his shirt to show the claw marks and he did so without any complaint except an annoyed expression. Will felt like his eyes were about to pop out of his head when he saw what he was dealing with. Nico had obviously been given hasty first aid, and it was also obvious because of the puffy irritated skin that it hadn’t been cared for properly. Will quickly palpated the skin, wincing as he saw the discharge and felt the swollen lymph nodes closest to the gashes.

“You have an infection,” Will told him as he sighed. “It doesn’t look too serious, thankfully. I’m going to have to undo the stitches, and I’ll give you some topical nectar and re-stich the deepest one with a drain so we can get some of that fluid out.”

“Can’t you just…heal it with your magic?” Nico asked him curiously, regarding his wound with a curious detachment. It somewhat startled Will—how strangely calm he was about having such a terrible wound and infection. That was a bad sign, Will thought. Will would need to have people paying close attention to his condition if he couldn’t trust Nico to honestly report on how he was feeling.

(You could totally pay extra attention to him, a part of him told him. After all, something this guy does is going to make you like him.)

(Shut up, said the other part of him. That’s like the worst thing I could do right now. No.)

“I could, however…how do I explain it?” Will said thoughtfully as he pulled out his flask of nectar. “Have you ever been really sick? And had a really bad fever?”

“Well yeah, sure.”

“It makes you feel kind of awful right? It breaks eventually, and then you are okay, but it really tires you out. Imagine my healing is like a fever. It heals, but it tires you out because it makes your body work and tires me out for kick starting that work. It’s better for everyone if I work in short bursts over time, and it is good to let your body heal at its own pace,” Will explained as he began to snip open the sutures.

“That actually makes sense,” Nico said thoughtfully, his eyebrows drawn together in thought.

“Chiron always told me that all power comes with a price, it’s about paying it smartly,” Will told him as he continued to work cleaning out the infection in one of the smaller cuts and suturing it close. “Little pinch here—we have time to get you fixed, don’t worry. But if you have anything important to tell me, or things you are worried about, now’s as good a time as any.”

“Well I—“

Nico stopped himself, blinked, and then scowled. If he had been about ten pounds heavier, had some tint to his skin, and not looked like he was about to fall asleep, it would have been a lot more terrifying than it was. And if it was up to Will he would be all of those things, sooner rather than later. (For purely medical purposes because Will wasn’t thinking about any dumb dream that literally meant nothing.)

“I almost said something unnecessary,” Nico said, sounding legitimately peeved. “How are you making me talk? Is it some Apollo-kid thing I don’t know about?”

“Bedside manner?” Will offered.

“Bedside what now?”

“Don’t worry about it. This healing thing can only work if you are honest though, and I promise, whatever it is you are worried about won’t be told to anyone, I _promise_ ,” Will told him, but Nico’s expression was closed off as if his mental business hours were between nine and five and Will had just walked in at 4:59. Will decided then and there that he liked his head attached to his body and figured it would be best not to push it, but he would work on this. Definitely.

Will finished opening the last and biggest cut, and flushing out the wound with nectar. Will noted the subtle signs of healing, before he placed a tube and re-stitched the wound and applied topical antibiotic. He got rid of his latex gloves and tossed them in the bin in one shot. Nico looked at his new addition with another oddly disconnected expression, and now that Will was thinking about it he didn’t think he had seen Nico flinch the entire time he had been weaving in the stiches. Will made sure to file that other useful observation away for use at another time. 

“That’s going to stay in for a bit so don’t mess with it,” Will informed him, “hopefully it will keep it from getting infected by letting the fluid drain out. Now, you tell me. Ambrosia, nectar, what?”

“Do you have any unicorn draught? That stuff works better,” Nico muttered and Will handed him a bottle which he downed before making a face, before Will helped Nico back into his shirt.

“Have you been doing any…uh…” Will articulated his point with his hand movement and Nico just sighed.

“Using my powers? And melt myself into a puddle? No, I don’t think so. Contrary to popular belief, I’m not that dumb,” Nico noted with a self-depreciating chuckle.

“So, will you let me touch your hands? I want to get a more accurate status report on those creepy crawlies in your veins and see what we can do about them,” Will said as he held his hands out, palm up like a peace offering to him. Nico observed him for a moment with a kind of incredulous somewhere-between-a-squint-a-glare-or-a-scowl that was beginning to be familiar to him, as if Will had just began speaking to him in Swahili and tap dancing on the floor. But slowly and cautiously, Nico relinquished one of his hands to Will’s touch with the amount of enthusiasm Will would have expected if he was reaching out to pet a starved hellhound. (And it definitely didn’t bother Will, why should it.)

Unfortunately, his dream rushed back to him as the sensation of Nico’s fingers curled with his own did strange things to his stomach. Will looked down and almost expected his fingernails to be painted and to look up and find himself by the docks. But neither of those things were true, and he bit them back as a whole other wave of sensation nearly knocked him back. There it was again, the concerning, dark, writhing darkness that swirled in Nico’s body, so tangible that Will almost thought he could draw his hand away and pull back shadows like cobwebs. And Will felt the problem immediately; the darkness was almost like a thick dark tar, congealing and clogging and dragging and pushing at the limits of Nico’s body dangerously. It wasn’t quite at the level it had been when they had come in contact during the battle, when Nico could have turned sideways and almost disappeared, but it certainly wasn’t much better. On top of that, Nico was a mess physically. Will could feel many old wounds, his head ached under the weight of all of the unchecked concussions Nico had obviously fell victim to, the broken bones that hadn’t mended well, and how severely underweight and under-nourished he was.

Will opened his eyes, and met Nico’s gaze (which was neutral, Will guessed Nico had one heck of a poker face). Will released his hand slowly.

“The most pressing issue is the darkness you are bubbling over with like an unwatched tea kettle on a stove. I can’t imagine what I’m feeling is good or comfortable for you. Have you had issues like this before? And how did you deal with it?”

Nico’s blank expression made Will sigh.

“Okay, so you never dealt with it. What _did_ you do?” Will rephrased as he pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to stifle his exasperation.

“It has never been this bad,” Nico said defensively, and when that obviously didn’t make Will feel better he slumped down. “Usually it goes away with time and rest…and when I was with Hedge and Reyna and almost when into a shadow coma they gave me this mud treatment. It worked as well as anything I had tried.”

“Okay, well, when I can catch Coach Hedge I’ll ask about the magic mud. Do you think I could try doing a little healing magic and invocation? I want to see how the shadow-gunk reacts,” Will said and Nico sighed before offering up his hand again with just about as much enthusiasm as last time. Will gripped his forearm and concentrated as he began to sing from a very familiar hymn: 

_“Beyond the darkness, starry-eyed, profound, the table roots, deep-fixed by thee, are found._

_The world's wide bounds, all-flourishing, are thine, thyself of all the source and end divine._

_'Tis thine all nature's music to inspire with various-sounding, harmonious lyre,_

_now the last string thou tunest to sweet accord,_

_divinely warbling, now the highest chord._

_The immortal golden lyre, now touched by thee,_

_responsive yields a Dorian melody._

_All nature's tribes to thee their difference owe,_

_and changing seasons from thy music flow._

_Hence, mixed by thee in equal parts, advance summer and winter in alternate dance; this claims the highest, that the lowest string,_

_the Dorian measure tunes the lovely spring._

_Hence, by mankind Pan royal, two-horned named, shrill winds emitting through the syrinx famed._

_Since to thy care the figured seal's consigned,_

_which stamps the world with forms of every kind._

_Hear me, blest power, and in these rites rejoice, and save thy mystics with a suppliant voice."_

In response to his hymn, the familiar tide of his power was drawn carefully from his veins as Will attempted to follow its natural ebb and flow as to not overwork himself. In his mind, he worked to direct the golden wellspring that overflowed within him to flow through Nico, and the moment it began to soak in Will felt the shadows that crawled and pulsed within Nico calm. As if Nico’s powers were saltwater and Will was an intruding stream, his magic could not penetrate to root out the infection of the darkness, only calm it with the help of the sunlight and skin across the surface. For now, an oddly confident part of Will told him. For now.

Will pulled away, shaking out his hands. Nico was staring at him intensely and it was unnerving, so unnerving that Will had to look away first.

“How did that feel?” Will asked him somewhat nervously.

“…weird. Warm. What did you do?” Nico asked him in return brusquely, his face an unreadable mask.

“I couldn’t heal it, so I tried to bring down the swelling,” Will translated for him. “We’ll see how successful I am in a few hours. For now I’m going to recommend keeping the drapes pulled open on the window to get sunlight and the use of sunlamps, since the darkness in you seems to react to that. I’m also going to get you on fluids and oral antibiotics I think, and build a meal plan for you. I think attacking this like it’s a regular infection might work, by giving your body the ability to fight back and regulate it by bolstering it and strengthening it and giving you time to rest. Hopefully we’ll be able to fix this with little unnecessary intervention.”

“And you got that all from just holding my hand a bit?” Nico asked incredulously.

“Of course not, I’ve also got skillz,” Will said with a wink and it was Nico’s turn to roll his eyes. Will immediately internally chastised himself. Why, oh why did he do that, Will immediately thought as he mentally cringed. This was exactly what he was not supposed to be doing. He needed to stay more professional.

“I’ve never heard that hymn before,” Nico noted, clearing his throat. His voice had an oddly dark and rasping quality to it, as if carrying on this conversation was a strain.

“It’s an Orphic hymn.”

“What’s the difference?” Nico asked curiously. Will blinked, his composure again crumpling.

“I forgot you haven’t taken any Ancient Greek classes with Chiron,” Will said as he cleared his own throat, that strange feeling inside of him tickling at the back of his throat. “Homeric Hymns are the ones you’ve heard before, and we use hymns to help concentrate our powers—“

“I heard you can do healing without them. I’ve also heard from my time at Camp Jupiter that it’s really difficult to do that,” Nico interrupted and Will couldn’t help but feel himself blush at the compliment. Nico, seemingly realized what he had done, awkwardly looked away.

“I can, but, it’s easier to focus my power when I do. Anyways, Homeric Hymns are the ones written by Homer, obviously. Orphic Hymns are written by Orpheus.”

“You mean Orpheus the son of Zeus?”

“Yes, but he was a great musician and a great composer of hymns. My dad gave him his lyre. Anyways, I like the Orphic Hymns because I’m not much of a singer. It’s easier for me to hold a beat and a tune with rhyming,” Will explained as he rocked back on his chair thoughtfully.

“Your voice is fine.”

“Wow, thank you for that glowing review of my singing prowess,” Will said sarcastically. Nico flushed in embarrassment (his version of flushing, which was adding maybe a degree or two of color to his face in splotches) before scoffing and turning over on his uninjured side so Will couldn’t exactly see his face.

“I…I might have difficulty resting. I don’t really sleep. Or eat,” Nico stated but it sounded apologetic. At least somewhat.

“Thank you for telling me that,” Will told him sincerely. “We’ll go slow with the eating. And we’ve got sleeping medication I can give you.” 

“…it’s really bad,” Nico said quietly. “I know it. I’m not dumb. I don’t…do you think I’ll ever be back to how I was before?”

“I don’t know,” Will answered honestly. “I’ve seen some power burn out before, I’ve suffered from it too. But your magic is different and the case is really severe. But I promise, I’ll try my best to help—”

“I’m tired from all this talking. I’m going to rest,” Nico said shortly and curtly, still not moving his head to look at him. Will gently grasped a spare blanket from another bed and placed it besides Nico, noting how small he still looked. He didn’t dare to try to drape it over him, Will got the feeling that Nico wouldn’t have accepted that lightly. Will then opened the window that was opposite of Nico’s drapes, to allow the sunlight to splash against his shirt.

“I’ll be back to check in on you soon and put in that IV,” Will told him, not expecting or receiving an acknowledgement.

Phoebe saw him walking away and gave him a look (as did her healers), and he saw his siblings Kayla, Austin, and their younger brother Antonio congregated by the desk looking down at Nico as if he were a time-bomb.

“I’ve given first aid to the most pressing injuries. He’s going to need fluids and antibiotics, but give him about 45 minutes to decompress. He’s got tons of darkness in his system, like, on a scale of one to ten he’s about a Mordor. Antonio, if you could, could you grab Violet and run over to Hedge’s and Mellie’s and ask about some magical muck that Nico said he used to de-Dark-Side him before—“

“You just don’t want to deal with any babies,” Antonio teased him, dark eyes winking with mischief.

“Or I’m giving Hedge the chance to bop you in the head for hitting on his wife,” Will teased as he ruffled Antonio’s dark hair. He stuck his tongue out, before leaving the infirmary. “Kayla, I know you’ll be the one doing rounds on that part of the infirmary. Please, if you feel like you need help, come get me okay?”

“di Angelo can barely walk straight, I think I’ll be fine,” Kayla scoffed before Austin needled her with his elbow.

“Yeah sure, let’s see how sticking a needle in him works for you,” Austin told her and she just bumped her hip against his, knocking Austin slightly off balance (and he of course recovered with a spin and a bow before they both walked off to attend their other duties).

Will nearly collapsed back in his own seat, a sudden wave of exhaustion hitting him. He rubbed at his temples, annoyed at himself. Will had almost let a dumb dream get in the way of something important. Just like the gods, Will thought exasperated, giving him a prophecy that he couldn’t do anything about but would only cause him issues. What would or would not happen between him and Nico needed to be a nonissue, especially when Nico was receiving care in his infirmary.

“Pull yourself together,” Will warned himself, giving his cheeks a resolute pat.

“Do you need a break or could you see more patients? Elise wanted your opinion, since she isn’t as familiar with nectar and ambrosia healing, and wanted to know if she should administer that or do a full healing,” Phoebe said as she tapped against the desk.

“And you couldn’t advise her?” Will asked curiously, and saw a strangely familiar grin on her face. One that he most certainly shared.

“Well, let’s just say I am also curious about how you Greeks do things and I don’t like being left in the dark,” Phoebe noted. “It would be a good learning experience for me.”

“You know, we both get that curiosity from the same place. If I do this, will you tell me more detail about the unicorn draught uses?” Will dared her, and Phoebe just nodded in return.

Will got the feeling that maybe there was something there that they could work on.


	3. Orders, Insults, and Pleasantries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Well, since starting anything with Nico di Angelo obviously isn’t going to go anywhere, and I had no idea why, I…I guess I’m just not going to go for it. If I tried it would be a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Will said as he waved off Cecil. “I mean, how hard could not falling for one boy be?”
> 
> In the aftermath of the battle Will has a strange dream, one that seems to predict his heart being broken by Nico di Angelo. The only problem being, Will has only really talked to him once. Will makes up his mind then and there that falling in love with a boy that will only end up breaking his heart is the last thing he will do. Or so he hopes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I graduated, hurray! And because of that this chapter is late, forgive me! But things are being set in motion at this point of the end of Day 1 in the infirmary, officially. I hope you all enjoy what’s in store (and as always my advice is, reread that dream if you don’t quite remember it, all details are important)! Also, yes, I am very invested in bi!Will Solace, and as such, that does play some importance. Just a head’s up. And yes, remember, this is a slight canon divergent AU, so, things go a little differently in this fic then in canon. But just slightly.

“Is Ellis not dying?” Clarisse La Rue asked after she marched into the infirmary. She stood there, tapping her foot to the beat of her annoyance, which Will guessed was cranked up to a solid slow-burning fury (though it didn’t take much to get Clarisse to smoldering rage, maybe a paper cut, an ill-timed swing during a WWE event, or the weather being warm during training would also suffice as a fuse to ignite her temper).

“Hi Will, how are you doing, it’s nice to see you too. Oh, thank you Clarisse for asking I really appreciate it,” Will said as he leaned against the desk with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Don’t be a bitch, Solace,” Clarisse told him with a roll of her eyes.

“And deny myself all this fun? How could I?” Will reminded her before sighing. “Yes, Clarisse, Ellis isn’t dying, and I haven’t killed him though he has tempted me constantly. Can I get you anything else with that order? Fries and a shake?” 

“Haha funny, well if Ellis isn’t dying can he come back with me? I need Sherman to quit whining and get along with our Roman cousins, which, newsflash, is difficult when Sherman is whining.”

“Sherman’s whining?”

“In the way Sherman whines, which is breaking punching bags with his fists at five in the morning. I know this may fuck with your mind, but Ellis actually chills Sherman out. Right now I need optimal chill, like subzero. Me and Zhang are having issues containing our collective natural affinities to kick the shit out of each other, and contrary to popular belief though I appreciate the idea, I am not having a fight club being organized in my gods damned cabin.”

“Okay, you can come with me to go check Ellis. If and only if he is ready to leave will he be discharged, but tell Sherman to come visit Ellis is going stir-crazy too,” Will told Clarisse as he attempted to lead her back with him, but Clarisse being Clarisse marched on her own terms and Will just ended up following behind and hoping she didn’t see anyone she didn’t like.

“Oh thank the gods you’ve come to spring me,” Ellis groaned from his bed as soon as he saw Clarisse. “I thought I was going to murder Markowitz if I had to look at his face for another second.”

“That’s what they all say,” Cecil said with a dramatic groan from over in the corner, giving Will a smile. Ellis made a disgusted face.

“Yeah not so much if Solace doesn’t okay you, though I only wish you were so excited to see me when I try to get your ass out of bed in the morning for practice you lazy son of a cyclops,” Clarisse said, sounding pissed but Will knew there wasn’t any heat in it. They exchanged insults and complaints, which, in Ares-progeny talk was pleasantries, as Will inspected Ellis’ wounds and felt about his ribs for tenderness.

“Di Immortales Solace don’t push so hard!” Ellis hissed at him and Will raised a brow.

“Ellis, I know that’s you sweet talkin’ me, and I am tryin’ very hard to be gentle with you, but I would appreciate if you were quiet and let me do my work,” Will warned him firmly with a drawl for good measure, meeting his gaze. “I can do a little simultaneous healing and get you out of here now, or, I can refuse and move you into the bed next to Cecil. Your choice.”

“Okay, okay, shit,” Ellis groaned, allowing Will to pull up his shirt and press his hands against his sides. Where Ellis’ ribs had been fractured from a spear’s handle had mostly healed up, just leaving them bruised. Will hummed the melody of a hymn, feeling his power seep into the hurt and calm it, soothe it. Ellis released an unwilling hiss of relief as Will lessened the ache (Ellis had been too proud to accept the pain meds, dumb brave kid). Will pulled away and motioned to Clarisse, who handed him his flask of nectar which he took a swig from. Ellis sat up and moved, testing his range of motion, and Will found it to be satisfactory.

“Alright, he’s ready to go, just don’t get into any arguments,” Will told them and Ellis nearly jumped out of bed. Clarisse clamped a hand on Will’s shoulder.

“Thank you,” Clarisse said.

“Of course, anytime,” Will said honestly. “Shall I walk you—“

“Praetor!” Phoebe’s voice came like a squeak towards the front of the infirmary. Will, Clarisse, and Ellis hustled to the front, to find Phoebe and her healers standing stock still as the Roman Praetor Reyna stood tall and accompanied by Hazel Levesque who was carrying a rather stuffed duffle bag. Reyna’s brows flew up at the sight of them.

“Good afternoon, I did not know it was Grecian infirmary policy to allow patients to wander about without shoes,” Reyna noted, giving Ellis the once over. Ellis, bless his heart, did not flinch but instead puffed up like an insulted rooster.

“And I did not know it was policy for Romans to walk into a hospital fully armed,” Will reminded them sternly, pointing at the weapons cubby. “If you are here for visiting you will utilize the proper procedures as well as turn down the intimidating factor, it would be much appreciated kay thanks.”

“Forgiveness, you must be…?” Reyna offered.

“Will Solace, I’m the head counsellor for Cabin Seven, and head healer at Camp Half Blood,” Will introduced, holding out his hand. Reyna grasped it in greeting, her grip strong and sure. “Clarisse, please, make sure Ellis doesn’t get into any fist fights on the way back to your cabin. I’ll see you later.”

Leaving Will to his own devices with the Romans seemed to be the last thing that Clarisse wanted to do. Say what you would about Clarisse, and Will had certainly said it before, but the girl was loyal to those she thought deserved loyalty. They had worked out a few rough patches over their years as counsellors together on that alone. Clarisse also knew when to let other people fight their own battles, so Clarisse clapped him on the back hard (which may have translated to either, _consider Apollo and Ares allies in the next Capture the Flag_ or _don’t die before I have to kill you loser_ , Will couldn’t really tell) before exiting the infirmary with a glaring Ellis still half-unclothed in tow.

“I’ve come to see how our soldiers are recovering in order to create a—“

“We’ve come to see Nico,” Hazel clarified with a sheepish grin. Reyna cleared her throat, cheeks slightly reddened as if she had been caught sneaking cookies out of a cookie jar.

“Yes, that too. We heard that Nico had checked in, thankfully. We’d been both telling him to get checked out since the battle,” Reyna said, offering Hazel a chiding look that was given mostly in amusement. The other girl made a show of straightening up for dramatic effect.

“I’ll take you back to see him then,” Will said, motioning for them to drop off their weapons (which they both did with varying levels of comfort). As he walked them back, Cecil gave him a look and a smoothing motion that read something akin too: _holy shit bro watch what you say or else you might get a foot of Imperial Gold shoved up your ass by two badass ladies who I’d like to be friends with if you catch my drift_. Will responded by flipping the bird.

“Interesting bedside manner,” Reyna observed.

“It comes with the job,” Will told her as he stopped flipping Cecil the bird, trying not to be intimated. “Also that’s my best friend so…”

“Do you normally do that with your best friends,” Hazel asked, looking charmingly embarrassed.

“You do when your best friend’s a piece of trash,” Will said neutrally with a shrug. “But he’s my piece of trash. I must remind him of that sometimes.”

They made their way back to the mostly empty section of the infirmary where Nico was currently presiding. Nico was still mostly in the position that Will had left him in, though with the added addition of the IV and the blanket. Hazel immediately rushed to his side, and worried over him.

“What’s wrong—“

“I’m being held against my will,” Nico said with a sigh. There was something gentle in his expression, something akin to a smile on his mouth. Hazel took a breath of relief before smiling back at him.

“What’s the diagnosis?” Reyna asked Will, hanging back, all business. 

“Infection, exhaustion, and general power malfunction. But the IV fluids and rest should help with most of it,” Will told her encouragingly. “How are you feeling, Nico?”

“Cold,” Nico said shortly, with a shiver for emphasis. He was looking heartbreakingly small, thin, tired, and pale against his sheets. Will made a mental note to get him another blanket. If anything, Nico di Angelo looked stretched thin, as if another inch would press him out of existence or a breeze might sweep him away.

“The fluids will do that, let me take a look,” Will said as he held out his hand. Nico, stuck his free hand out to let Will clasp it again. Improvement, small improvement, but improvement nonetheless Will noted. Of course it was only a few hours, but it was enough to let an optimistic smile show through, mostly for Hazel’s sake who was looking seriously worried about her brother. “Better. Incrementally better but that means we’re on the right track.”

“Great,” Nico said with heavy sarcasm, as he looked away quickly and he nearly threw down Will’s hand. Hazel gave her brother a strange look.

Weird, Will thought. This guy is supposed to like me? How? I don’t even know what I did but I think he hates my guts.

“What Nico means to say is thank you,” Reyna seemingly reminded/warned him, Nico only responded by slumping further into the bed like an angry child. It was oddly endearing, which was very concerning.

Will needed to watch himself, maybe get a crush on another equally emotionally unavailable person who he hadn’t had a prophetic dream about so he could at least trick himself that they wouldn’t break his heart. Like on someone like Reyna for example, she was certainly gorgeous, also could kick his ass, and was also very unattainable. Will could totally have a crush on her and get his heart broken because she would probably never even consider him because as some of the Venus campers who had stopped to gossip in the infirmary had reported, Reyna had been making bedroom eyes at both Jason and Percy Jackson for a while now. And as everyone who had seen him in sword-practice would tell her, Will Solace was no Jason Grace or Percy Jackson, so that translated to having no chance. Will understood what unrequited longing and undeserved heartbreak was like, and if Will hadn’t been so attached to the idea of his head being attached to his body, Will would’ve given her a pat on the back in a sign of comradery. 

“We came to let you know that most of the legion are out of the infirmary. Phoebe let us know that in the next day or so the rest of them will be released and we’ll be heading back to Camp Jupiter—“

“And also to visit you,” Hazel reminded Reyna again with a laugh.

“Yes, we also wanted to see how you were. Are you going to be coming back with us?” Reyna asked curiously, her head tipped to the side and causing her dark braid to fall off her shoulder. 

“As much as I would like to say yes…I don’t really foresee a lot of black togas in my future,” Nico noted with a sigh. “Even though they were a striking fashion statement.”

“It was also nice to see you out of your ratty clothes and looking professional,” Hazel teased and her brother gave her a well-worn look of exasperation. 

“Excuse you, I’ll always take comfortable over fashionable.”

“And godliness over cleanliness?” Hazel said with a roll of her golden eyes.

“Okay, listen, it wasn’t my choice to show up in that shirt it was all I could find—Solace, stop cackling!”

“Sorry, sorry,” Will said as he tried to clear his throat. He hadn’t even realized he had been laughing until Nico had pointed it out. Reyna gave Will a curious look, before returning her attention to Nico. Which confused Will again. Had his laughter been so weird?

“Don’t worry, I brought a present,” Hazel said as she showed her bag that she had brought into the infirmary. Hazel pulled out a few shirts, varying shades of black and grey as a demonstration from the bulging bag. “I asked some people to donate. Only white and grey scale colors, maybe one navy, but I know your aesthetic.”

“You shouldn’t have,” Nico said, his gaze was almost unreadable but there was something vulnerable in his eyes—which were oddly colorless. “Hazel, you really shouldn’t have—“

“Oh hush,” Hazel told him as she reached out to brush his hair from his forehead. “Nonsense. It was nothing.”

“We thought it would be only appropriate considering the circumstances,” Reyna said as she took the seat on the other side of him.

They continued to chat with Nico and Will kept to the background, minding his own business as he changed out bedsheets. He checked on the quickly emptying infirmary and all the recovering inhabitants (including Cecil, who he warned off from any unfortunate romantic misadventures). Phoebe was still half-panicking in the front, and Will gave her a look and a job to complete to keep her mind off the fact that two of the highest ranked and regarded warriors of their generation were in the same building as her.

“I don’t understand why you are freaking out,” Will asked Phoebe who took a deep breath after they finished cutting portions of ambrosia. 

“I don’t expect you to understand, but it’s like the CEO of a fortune 500 company coming to a side branch,” Wren, one of Phoebe’s half-sisters scoffed. 

“Listen, she’s like our age. She seems pretty normal to me. Like, it’s great you respect her, but there isn’t a point in getting one’s panties twisted up about it,” Will pointed out to her. “You don’t see me getting bent over backwards over seeing Annabeth Chase or something.”

“Easy for you to say. You are basically the equivalent of a Centurion here,” Phoebe pointed out. “You are allotted a certain amount of respect automatically, you are on the same playing field as the great heroes.”

“Centurion?” Will asked curiously.

“We have our Cohorts. Each Cohort is run by a Centurion, so, you are basically the Centurion of your cabin,” Phoebe explained before sighing. “Not that you wouldn’t be considered in the running at Camp Jupiter for a legitimate Centurion position if you came to New Rome with us.”

“Wait, what does that mean—“

“Will Solace?” Reyna’s voice called as she and Hazel appeared. Phoebe and Wren stood up rod straight until Reyna dismissed them with a tired wave. Will stood up a bit more slowly. “I’ve heard from some of the other Legionnaires that you performed emergency healings and saved many of them, even without hymns or assistance.”

“Yes, though I prefer not to. It’s tiring,” Will said with a shrug. Reyna blinked, seemingly filing away that knowledge for later.

“Well, I just wanted to officially extend an invitation to New Rome, and know that our resources are yours. Phoebe has written glowing reviews in her report, and seeing the infirmary itself shows me that you are a great leader,” Reyna explained before giving a softer smile. “And I can already tell that Nico has improved. So, as a friend, I must thank you. Keep Nico as long as necessary, and if necessary please call me. I can always talk some sense into him.”

“I think I can handle myself, it’s all in a day’s work. If you ever find yourself or anyone you know injured on the East Coast, just holler,” Will said as he reached over to give her a handshake. As soon as Reyna had finished, Hazel Levesque nearly bounced over to hug him. Will couldn’t help his smile as he accepted it.

“Thank you so much, and don’t let Nico bully you!” Hazel said firmly, as if she believed her brother had every intention of being troublesome.

“I’ll survive. But if you could do me a favor? Make sure Frank knows that Clarisse is having a hard time reigning in her cabinmates, and there has apparently been talk of a fight club,” Will told her.

“What’s a fight club?” Hazel asked, her eyebrows furrowed worriedly.

“Not on my watch will there be. I’ll take care of it,” Reyna said as she cleared her throat. “Thank you again.”

And so Reyna and Hazel both left the infirmary, leaving a much relieved cohort of Roman healers behind them. Will, as always, organized the dinner in the infirmary to be assured that all demigods had their nutritional needs met, and making sure to swipe two platters before going down the hall once more. Nico was laying back dozing again, understandably exhausted.

“Dinner’s served,” Will told him, and Nico opened one eye and looked at Will with all the enthusiasm that he probably would have mustered if Will had just told him that he had hired a mariachi band and a clown for Nico’s super sweet sixteen. 

“I’m not really hungry,” Nico told him with a sigh, and to be fair, the kid looked pretty drained. Will settled the plate on the bedside table.

“Good news is, I just got you a sandwich and some potato salad. It won’t go cold or anything, so eat it at your own pace,” Will promised him and Nico seemed relatively relieved that Will wouldn’t be force feeding him, as if he had been in that situation before, which made his heart break a little bit. “Would you mind if I checked you out?”

“Alright,” Nico said, offering his hand which Will took. Will couldn’t help but notice that Nico’s entire arm twitched as if he had just been shocked with static. 

“Sorry, is that uncomfortable?” Will asked him worriedly, attempting to reign in the desire to try to rub some heat into Nico’s frigid fingers. Will had a feeling that Nico might bite him involuntarily if he tried something like that.

“You are hot,” Nico muttered, before immediately gaping like a fish, eyes wide with panic as the flashed around the room looking for an exit. “I mean—I mean—“

“I do like to think I run hot. Son of the Sun God and all,” Will could help but joke with a laugh.

“Don’t let your head get full of hot air. You might burst,” Nico grumbled, embarrassed but looking relieved. Will was still grinning as he let his power wash through him once more. The shadows were still lurking there, but nothing too concerning. His body was already fighting off the infection that had taken hold of his cuts, and the resting was helping out. But there was a lingering heaviness that still had to be addressed, something that Will knew was more mental then physical, though as Will had often discovered the two bled into each other.

“Progress already,” Will reported, very pleased. “Now we have to keep it going that way.” 

“I hope so, I’ll die of boredom if I’m stuck here longer then necessary,” Nico groaned.

“If you would like, I could send a message to some of your friends so they can come visit you. Hazel and Reyna aren’t the only ones who would like to see you I’m sure,” Will pointed out to him, and Nico’s expression was suddenly guarded and tight.

“They know where I am,” Nico said with an odd amount of frustration. “Why should I tell them to come visit? If they want to see me they’ll come.”

“Hey Nico, let me let you in on something,” Will said as he sat down beside his bed, while still trying to give Nico space. “And I don’t want you to take this as me being condescending or something because it’s not. But people don’t know what you are thinking or feeling unless you say something, that goes for everyone. Sometimes you have to say something to be seen the way you actually are. If you leave people to guess, then you can be misconstrued.”

“That’s stupid,” Nico argued but the defense seemed weak, and Nico frowned. Will couldn’t help but give him a small nod.

“Yeah, it is. Also, you won’t be seen as weak or something because you want your friends to visit. Gods know I’ve had a very similar conversation with Kayla before,” Will explained with a fond chuckle. “And I was the same too. I cried when Michael didn’t visit me when I got a concussion. I found out after that because he accidentally gave me a concussion on the lava wall, and he thought I wouldn’t want to see him and I was mad at him. When Lee came in and saw me blubbering, Lee dragged Michael in to the infirmary with a vengeance. It was all a misunderstanding, you know? But communication was key in resolving it.”

Will couldn’t help but let out a laugh at the story, remembering how much a mess all three of them had been. That was the thing with Apollo kids, they were all dramatic in their own ways and they couldn’t help making a scene sometimes. It had all been rather silly, but the fond memory made his cheeks hurt from his smile. Nico watched him with something like fascination, as if trying to physically absorb his advice so he could use it another day.

“Your brothers, right?” Nico asked with a strange look in his eyes, as if he was focusing on something at a far distance through Will. The intensity of the gaze made Will feel like heat was crawling up his neck and he was forced to look away. Not good. Not good. Holy Hera that expression was cool in an awesome comic book superhero kind of way, like Nico was some gunslinger off to seek retribution for ill-deeds. “Both were heroes, and judged to be honorable enough to find a place in the Elysian Fields.”

“Yeah…I know,” Will said as he shook free his errant feelings, a bittersweet feeling welling up in his chest. “Thanks.”

“Well…I…” Nico said awkwardly, the strange authority slipping away to reveal the boy his age underneath who seemed anxious to turn the topic away. “Could you pull out some of the clothes in the bag? I want to see what Hazel gave me.”

“Sure, of course,” Will said as he fumbled for the bag, reaching in and feeling a smooth, cool texture.

Will pulled out a leather jacket. A leather jacket he recognized, as suddenly for a moment he was taken back to that dock, to that lake, to that moment of rejection. His breath caught in his lungs at the intensity of the déjà vu.

“Oh cool,” Nico said as he snatched the jacket from Will’s numb fingers and admired the black leather with more interest then Will had seen from him this whole time. “I needed a new jacket since mine got all ripped up.”

 _Oh gods this isn’t good this is happening this is a thing that’s happening_ , was Will’s first thought. The second being: _I’m screwed._


	4. Mud Facials and Candle Spells

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Well, since starting anything with Nico di Angelo obviously isn’t going to go anywhere, and I had no idea why, I…I guess I’m just not going to go for it. If I tried it would be a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Will said as he waved off Cecil. “I mean, how hard could not falling for one boy be?”
> 
> In the aftermath of the battle Will has a strange dream, one that seems to predict his heart being broken by Nico di Angelo. The only problem being, Will has only really talked to him once. Will makes up his mind then and there that falling in love with a boy that will only end up breaking his heart is the last thing he will do. Or so he hopes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m back! A bunch of real life stuff happened, I got unmotivated, yada yada all that stuff. But here’s a new chapter so I hope you all enjoy it! This is mostly a set up chapter, but it was still fun to write. This one goes out to my buddy Ember, who I've left a reference to one of her fics in here. See if you can find it ; )
> 
> You guys are going to hate me for this cliffhanger though. Enjoy!

“Is there a reason that you’ve been a perpetual sad boy or do I need to have another chat with Austin about playing the 1975?” Lou Ellen asked as she leaned against one of the pillars of the pavilion. Will gave her a weak glare before wholly giving up and just letting himself mope.

“I’m surprised Cecil hasn’t blabbed to you already,” Will commented, gazing at the Hermes table. Recently released Cecil was back there, and with his siblings were currently working on daring their Roman cousins to bet increasingly higher sums of hash browns over an obviously rigged poker game. If he noticed Will’s accusatory gaze he did nothing to signal it.

“I’m still angry at Cecil. He made a pun, while he was getting carted away to the infirmary, and it wasn’t even clever,” Lou Ellen said with a roll of her eyes. “Alright, seriously though, what’s up?”

“I’m an emotional wreck over something that hasn’t even happened yet,” Will groaned as he heavily plopped into his seat at the table. Many of the other Apollo kids had already eaten and were working on packing their things for the trip back, true to their morning-bird natures.

“You and everyone else I’ve ever met, what makes this problem so special?” Lou Ellen asked as she sat beside him, fielding a look from the scattered campers and waving it off. There wasn’t much room to spare anywhere, even with the ever-increasing addition of tables. Except the Big Three tables, that were all empty at the moment. A couple people looked like they were about to make a run for them just for the space, especially Butch, who looked like he had just about had it with his Roman cousins’ ukulele and kazoo rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Will didn’t really blame him. It was quite the musical marvel…in its own way.

“Ugh, alright, fine, come here a second,” Will said, grabbing Lou Ellen’s hand and tugging her out of the pavilion. Once they were clear of nosy campers, Will turned back to her. “You have to swear you won’t say a word to anyone else. Cecil already knows, but that’s already a liability.”

“You want me to swear on the river Styx or something?” Lou Ellen asked suspiciously, tapping black nails on her arm.

“No, nothing that serious…just…” Will struggled before giving up and shoving his hands into the pockets of his cargo shorts. “I had a prophetic dream that Nico di Angelo broke up with me.”

“You’re going out with Nico di Angelo?” Lou Ellen asked, penciled eyebrows shooting up in surprise. Though Aphrodite and Apollo cabins often prided themselves on grooming and makeup, Hecate cabin had a sense of aesthetics that anyone could appreciate.

“No, and that’s the problem,” Will hissed. “I’m not dating him, nor do I like him that way…I think.”

“How can you not know whether you like a person or not?”

“I don’t—Lou you are focusing on the wrong thing here!” 

“Well I don’t know and I don’t really get it, but okay. But that must make things awkward, huh?” Lou Ellen observed thoughtfully.

“Yeah, I don’t know, I mean, I don’t want to get my heart broken, but I also feel like I’m unfairly holding myself back or something. Which is crazy, and Nico seems like a nice kid too—“

“Nico di Angelo? Nice kid?” Lou Ellen scoffed and Will gave her a withering look. 

“He’s a nice kid. I just think he’s…he isn’t socially adjusted. Or at least, he hasn’t adjusted well. And who could blame him?”

“Maybe that’s how you got to approach this, Will. Nico needs your help, just treat him like you would treat any of your siblings or your plants. Water him and make sure he gets plenty of sunlight,” Lou Ellen said with a shrug.

“I guess that’s all I can really do at this point huh?” Will asked as he nudged the ground with his sandals. Lou Ellen gave him a smile before reaching up to pat his head, not unlike she might’ve if he was a dog.

“It’s alright, everything will work out. I promise. There are always paths that you can take that will take you to where you are meant to be, even if they aren’t obvious right away. But I have an idea, I’ll perform a spell tonight—“

“Oh gods, like that’s ever a good idea. Last time you did that my hair turned grey and grey is not my color,” Will groaned.

“Oh shush, it’ll just be a simple candle spell. I’ve been dying to work with my moon water too—anyways. I’ll entreat Mom to provide you emotional clarity and guidance,” Lou Ellen said as she moved her hand from his curls to squish his cheeks, her green eyes were alight with humor. “You’re Lou Lou has got you covered. So don’t look so down, okay? I like you best when you are smiling.”

“Thanks Lou Ellen, you’re the best and you can tell Cecil I said that,” Will said as he leaned down to kiss the crown of her head. Lou Ellen smiled up at him brightly, teeth white and glinting against cream.

“Oh shoot we’re kissing Lou Ellen let me in on that!” Cecil said as he bounded up and pressed a kiss to Lou Ellen’s temple. Lou Ellen laughed fondly and pulled them both in.

“Look who’s feeling better today,” Will said and Cecil stuck out his leg and pointed his toe.

“I could dance all night if I had too, if you were going to pay me that is,” Cecil said with an exaggerated wink as Lou Ellen elbowed him under his arm before spotting the Aphrodite cabin making their slow, sleep-addled walk to the pavilion. Aphrodite Cabin had a penchant for staying up late whether that be from gossiping or high-risk make up experimentation. Thankfully no one had ended up in the infirmary since the lash-curler incident of two months ago, but there was a second time for everything.

“Good morning Lou Ellen!” the always pleasant Lacy greeted as she nearly skipped up to meet Lou Ellen, her blonde curls bouncing in time. Her half-brother Mitchell offered a meek greeting wave, before yawning and revealing a splash of glitter across his cheek. “Good morning Cecil, good morning Will.”

“Good morning,” Cecil greeted in turn. “You guys heading for breakfast? We’ll join you—“

“Yeah, right,” Drew Tanaka’s voice came, harsh and annoyed. She stood off to the side, avoiding all of their looks as if their attention was cumbersome and out of season, twirling one of her dark curls around her finger. Will couldn’t help but wonder how she wasn’t cold, after cutting her CHB tee until it was midriff baring and off the shoulder, and if she hadn’t been Drew he would have offered her his sweatshirt, and only didn’t offer it because Will knew he was the last demigod in the camp besides Piper McLean that she would accept anything from. Instead Will placed his hands on his hips.

“Just because you’re in a foul mood doesn’t mean that we all have to be,” Will reminded her calmly.

“Whatever, Solace,” Drew scoffed before strutting away with purpose, if she had been wearing heels she would have probably slayed some people. Piper walked up to him, looking in Drew’s direction before back at him apologetically.

“I’m sorry Will, she’s being especially difficult today,” Piper commented, multicolored eyes sliding back to where Drew had disappeared into the pavilion.

“Don’t worry, I’m kind of used to it from her,” Will explained with a sheepish laugh. “I’m sorry if you’re going to get an earful later from Drew, I know how she is.”

“What? Why?” Piper asked, confused.

“You haven’t heard?” Will asked in return, surprised. “You mean they didn’t tell you?”

“Didn’t tell me what?”

“Well, if they didn’t think it was a big deal, I wouldn’t worry about it,” Will said before clearing his throat awkwardly. “Let’s just get to breakfast then, alright?”

Piper’s odd look didn’t fade away, Will felt certain that it was following him through the pavilion. Thankfully his cabinmates and Roman cousins had returned, and helped to distract from the certain feeling of being watched.

* * *

The Romans all left after breakfast, with a final parting word from Reyna. Hazel gave Will and a few of the Seven a friendly wave, which Will and the rest returned. Will accepted a hug from Phoebe and a few of the other Apollo legionaries and wished them will on their journey through the Labyrinth. He couldn’t help but feel lonely after saying goodbye, not that his cabin wasn’t usually bursting from campers, but he had gotten used to their company. 

He was just making his way back to his cabin to dump his sweatshirt off when his half-sister Violet ran up and nearly knocked him over. Violet was tiny thing at barely pushing eight years old, with dark curls and a wide puppy-dog eyes. She could also play Dvorak’s Cello Concerto in B minor with her eyes closed but that was somewhat besides the point, though bragging about his siblings was something Will always aimed to do regardless of the situation.

“Nico’s trying to get the drain taken out. Antonio’s told him no but he’s not listening and then Emma’s trying to back him up but it’s not working I don’t think, I’m sorry Will I promised I would watch after things,” Violet said, probably in a single breath, the mouth that Will knew was identical to his wobbling. Will leaned down and quickly pulled out Violet’s hastily thrown together pigtails and quickly redid them. Violet smiled a watery grateful grin at him.

“It sounds like Nico is being very bad, I’ll go have a word with him,” Will promised the little girl and help out his hand. Violet smiled a gap-toothed smile and slipped her hand in his as they walked to the Big House together.

When they finally made it in, the infirmary was in the kind of chaos that Will had expected it to be in. Antonio and Emma were hiding behind an empty cot, intermittently throwing packets of Band-Aids with deadly accuracy at Nico di Angelo, who was hissing at them as he kept getting smacked in the face by cardboard boxes with happy faces on them. The only reason he hadn’t escaped was because obviously one of Will’s siblings had managed to buckle in Nico’s left arm with one of the magicked straps, and Nico currently had the magical ability of a potato and could only flail a broom around in annoyance as if he were trying to sweep Will’s siblings out of existence.

“What is going on here?” Will ordered, obviously having hung out with Lou Ellen and Cecil too much because he immediately planted his feet on the ground and propped his hands on his hips. He was also well aware that there probably wasn’t any sensible explanation for any of this, considering it was his siblings. “Antonio, Emma, I’m not sure this is what Hippocrates had in mind for that oath of his.” 

“He started it!” Antonio said as he pointed at Nico.

“Yeah, we were trying to stop him from doing something stupid, Will, promise!” Emma groaned, tugging her blue-dyed hair nervously in its French braid. She had managed to convince Kayla to do it three days ago as a reward for improvement in archery class. “Don’t be mad at us!”

“Get this thing off me!” Nico demanded as he pointed to the strap that was holding him. “So I can go over there and give you something to stop!”

“No one is doing any of that on my watch! I just managed to get everyone better I am not dealing with putting people back in this infirmary again without need!” Will told both sides. “Nico, sit down and put the broom down. Antonio, Emma, clean up the supplies. We need those, we can’t be wasting them. Scat!”

His siblings scrambled off to collect the fallen tributes to their siege, leaving Nico and Will mostly alone. Will gave Violet a gentle smile.

“Go make sure those bozos do it right? You are the best at organizing. And when one the dryads come with a package that’s for me and my buddy here, bring it please,” Will told his little sister as he crouched down who just reached over and gave him a hug before scampering off to do exactly what he asked with her pigtails bouncing after her. When Will looked up at Nico, he was still holding the broom halfheartedly, and had followed Violet and his other siblings out with a strange look, the fire of annoyance seemingly put out. Still, Will didn’t want to risk it. “I’m sorry. They mean well, but it doesn’t help to prove the point I tried to make about people wanting you here, huh? I’ll talk to them later, I promise.”

“It’s…” Will got the impression Nico was about to say something ‘nothing’, but then decided against lying. “Can you please let me out of this thing?”

Nico held up his bound hand, and Will took note of his general rumpled condition. Will could let him go easy, but for some reason Will also thought it might be good to let Nico sweat for a few moments longer. Will knew he wasn’t at all scary, but he also knew that it was important for Nico to take him seriously. So instead of moving, Will met his gaze evenly and tapped his fingers on his hips, channeling his sisters.

“Seriously, get me out of this!” Nico demanded after a few more moments of quiet that must have stretched out for an eternity. Will resisted the urge to grin.

“I don’t know, did you try to do something really stupid like…oh…I don’t know…take the drain I put in you to stop infection out yourself and without waiting until I got here to take care of it for you?”

“It was—“

“Ah?” Will stopped him and Nico immediately fumbled. 

“No really—“

“Uh-huh?”

“Okay, okay. It was dumb…I…I shouldn’t have done it,” Nico groaned before throwing the broom down and once again pointing to his wrist. “Let me out of this now!”

“There you go, was it that hard?” Will asked him as he walked over and undid the buckle, flexing his magic to make it go slack. Nico rubbed his redden wrist and glared at the restraint as if he would start hissing at it.

“You suck, Solace,” Nico told him flatly.

“I happened to think that’s one of my charming qualities,” Will said sweetly, with a saccharine grin that might have rotted his teeth out before pointing to Nico’s cot. “Now sit, and let’s see if you messed up my perfectly good stitches.”

Nico gave him a suspicious look before taking off his shirt as he was directed to do so. To Will’s immediately relief, he hadn’t busted any of his stitches nor had he pulled the drain out from his wound. The wound that was no longer draining fluid, so thankfully he could do what Nico wanted. Will got to work pulling out the drain and restitching the rest of it closed. Nico rolled his shoulder, not caring about Will’s wince. 

“Doesn’t that hurt you?” Will asked him, concerned.

“No, not really,” Nico said in return. “You did a good job with my stitches. Much better than I’ve ever done.”

Will couldn’t help but feel his cheeks flush, and immediately he swiveled on his chair. The compliment, whether actually intended or not, made Will feel oddly giddy. Which was dumb, because Will had been complimented on his skills plenty of times and he had never felt like his heart was skipping to the beat of a jazz quartet. So instead of focusing on that, Will allowed himself to calm down before even attempting to respond.

“I’ve got some practice,” Will said with a shrug before noticing Nico’s very suspiciously empty bedside table, the tray upon it completely empty of everything—even crumbs. Remembering how Nico had picked through all the meals Will had seen him eat, Will was immediately suspicious. “Were you given any breakfast?”

Nico didn’t immediately give up anything within his expression, and Will looked at him with wavering patience. Nico didn’t move, remaining stoic and still on the bed as Will popped open the bedside trashcan to reveal completely uneaten French toast and a fruit bowl. Will sighed and threw his used gloves in there with the breakfast. 

“I don’t think the bread insulted you, why did you treat it that way?” Will asked him with a quirk of his brow. Nico just grimaced, obviously unamused by his joke. “Did you try to eat any of it before it ended up unceremoniously tossed?”

“It was either it or me,” Nico grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest stubbornly, as if the barrier of his arms would provide proper defense.

“And by that you mean…?”

“I can’t eat so early, I would throw up.”

“Do you ever eat breakfast?” Will asked him, and Nico’s dark expression just made him sigh. “For Gods sake Nico, I’m not trying to torture you—“

“Oh really—“

“I’m trying to help you, you little gremlin,” Will finished sternly. “It’s important for me to know these things so I can…you know…help you. Which is the point of you being here in case you forgot.”

“Oh really? I thought the point of me being here was for me to be cooped up away from the other kiddies in time out,” Nico sneered, the expression terrifying, intimidating, and attractive. One of those things was not like the others Will thought wryly.

“Cute, real cute,” Will muttered under his breath. “Gods give me strength, I’m surrounded by numbskulls.”

Will quickly made his way over to the minifridge where they kept the snacks in this part of the Big House. Healing took energy, and often times healers pulled double shifts and needed pick-me-ups between meals. Will pulled out a bottle of chocolate milk, thinking that Nico seemed to be a like chocolate milk kind of guy, before tossing the bottle to him.

“Nico, meet calcium, vitamin D, and potassium. All things that you should become well acquainted with,” Will told Nico. “Now, chocolate milk isn’t a full meal obviously. But it’s a start. If you miss eating important nutrients at breakfast, you’re less likely to get them throughout the day. Also it’s good for cognitive function and energy. So we’ll try to get you used to eating in the mornings, at least a little bit. Do you think you can handle chocolate milk?”

Nico took the chocolate milk bottle as if it might bite him, and slowly opened it and took a pensive sip. Just then, Violet came almost sliding in, holding a bucket filled with questionable looking goop.

“Apple dropped this off for you,” Violet reported, and Will immediately popped open his first aid kit and produced a lollipop for her. Violet squeaked in delight before popping the confection in her mouth and skipping off and promising to tell him all about music lessons later.

“You bribe your help?” Nico asked sounding bemused.

“One man’s bribe is another man’s payment,” Will said as he planted the bucket next to Nico’s bed. “Alright Nico di Angelo, meet your new experimental treatment, curtesy of Coach Hedge.”

“Ugh, no, once was enough, I am not putting that…that stuff on me again!” Nico said as he pointed at the offending bucket.

“Just think of it as a mud facial. Besides, even if it doesn’t work to absorb some of the darkness, it’ll at least absorb excess oil and leave you with clear exfoliated skin,” Will pointed out brightly, attempting to kill Nico’s resistance with kindness. However, today that resistance was at a cockroach level of hardiness. At this rate he would need to take up exterminator as a secondary profession. 

“How do you even know that?” Nico asked him, looking legitimately disgusted. “I thought you were a son of Apollo not Aphrodite—“

“HA! GAY!” Antonio shouted playfully from the desk. 

“Good grooming habits should be universal, and besides, don’t hate me because I’m bi and too fine,” Will argued loudly enough for Antonio to hear before blowing him a kiss. Antonio pretended to duck under it to Will’s further amusement. “You’re stalling—woah, Nico, you okay?”

Nico had gone as white as a sheet, all the good color he had managed to gain draining out like he was a popped water balloon. He blinked rapidly as if trying to remember where he was before looking at Will in confusion and alarm.

“Um…uh…yeah—fine—I’m fine. Bathroom, I’ll put the gunk on in the—“ Nico stood up and grabbed the bucket with little grace. The weight of the bucket was obviously surprising to him, and Nico almost toppled over with the momentum of the swing. Will immediately grabbed Nico’s wrists and steadied him by quickly pulling him close. Nico immediately flushed a dark red, yanked himself out of Will’s grasp, before marching himself to the bathroom and slamming the door closed.

“What the…?” Will asked, rubbing the back of his head. What had that been all about?

He was really going to need Lou Ellen’s candle spell to work at this rate, Will thought as he wandered back up to the front desk, giving Antonio and Emma their promised talking too before letting them switch with Kayla and Austin. He was waiting for Nico to be done, listening to the occasional swearing in the bathroom, when suddenly the door opened to reveal an uncommon face.

“Hey Will,” Percy Jackson greeted. “Is Nico around?”


	5. Digital Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Well, since starting anything with Nico di Angelo obviously isn’t going to go anywhere, and I had no idea why, I…I guess I’m just not going to go for it. If I tried it would be a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Will said as he waved off Cecil. “I mean, how hard could not falling for one boy be?”
> 
> In the aftermath of the battle Will has a strange dream, one that seems to predict his heart being broken by Nico di Angelo. The only problem being, Will has only really talked to him once. Will makes up his mind then and there that falling in love with a boy that will only end up breaking his heart is the last thing he will do. Or so he hopes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 2 in the infirmary! Complete with: nosy siblings, Dead Poet's Society, adorable girls in love, a visit from mother nature, Daft Punk, Grey’s Anatomy, love intrigue, and Percy Jackson.  
> Also, side note, Will is an unreliable narrator. I'm just throwing it out there.  
> I hope you all enjoy!

The thing that people didn’t know about Percy Jackson was that Percy Jackson wasn’t dumb. If anything, Percy Jackson liked to use that assumption against them. He could be rather cunning when he wanted to be. For example Will couldn’t count the number of times on his hands that Percy had skipped out on counselor meetings while feigning ditzy forgetfulness. Percy could be obtuse, but to Will it had always seemed like it was more on the account of having too many thoughts shoved into his head all at once and not being able to sort out the thoughts well. And to be fair, he did have a lot to worry about— being the center of earth-shattering prophecies and all that. Will often wondered how a guy like that slept at night, and then when he often saw him sagging in the pavilion in the morning, the answer was that Percy Jackson didn’t. 

So when Percy was standing there, with a look of obviously faked confusion, Will just let him continue. Whatever Percy thought he was doing, it was better to go the long way rather than the short way to address it.

“Nico’s here, are you here to visit?”

“Yeah, I just need to talk with him, unless he’s busy,” Percy said with an awkward smile that he still managed to look good with. That was another thing about Percy Jackson, he was pretty dang good looking. In terms of demigod genes, Percy had won the cosmic lottery with the black hair, green eyes, and surfer bod looks. _Good for Annabeth_ , Will thought for about the millionth time with a hidden grin. Will had to give it up to a girl who could get a guy like that to go to Tartarus and back for her. Will saluted her: _Oh Captain My Captain._

Will noted something under the sleeve of Percy’s sweatshirt and grasped his hand. Mottled bruises layered his arm. Percy gave him a sheepish look.

“Uh…I was going to have ambrosia later?” Percy asked hopefully. Will pointed to the open bed.

“Sit. Shirt off. You Big Three kids are going to drive me up the wall at some point,” Will muttered as Percy did as he was asked and Will got to work healing his arm, reaching over to press his palm against his shoulder and letting the warmth sink into Percy. “Do you all hate seeing me that much?”

“Never, you are one of my favorite people ever,” Percy said with a devilish grin.

“Okay, what do you want you delinquent?” Will reached to pinch his cheek and Percy cackled in return.

“Holy Hera—“

Will looked over to see Nico, his face still partially smudged with magic mud, staring with mouth agape at them. His face was flushed in embarrassment as he rocked back on his heels, and Percy waved at him.

“Hey Nico, sorry, Will’s healing me,” Percy apologized with a flashing hopeless grin. Will noting the proximity they were at, adjusted to a more respectable distance. If Will hadn’t known any better, based on Nico’s reaction, he might have thought—

“Put a godsdamn shirt on, Jackson!” Nico hissed at Percy cover his eyes, and breaking Will’s train of thought. “And you—you—“

“Aw, I think we’re embarrassing him,” Percy said and with a shit eating grin, wrapped his arms around Will’s waist, and stuck his tongue out from the side. 

“Have some shame, man!”

“Will, protect me, Nico’s going to try to morph into a puddle and drown me! I’m so scared!” Percy screamed in exaggerated high-pitch faux-terror, Nico looked like he was ready to throttle him. And Will waved him down, since throttling was definitely against Infirmary Policy. Something was happening and Will didn’t know what, but holy shit Percy Jackson was hugging him and Nico di Angelo was glaring at him and that was pretty hot so it was A-Okay. But too soon, Will extricated himself from Percy Jackson’s hold. He waited until he knew both boys weren’t going to start grabbing at brooms and dueling before sighing.

“Enough teasing, you were looking for him and here he is. And be careful. You can come to me to get healed you know,” Will chided Percy who just gave him a guilty expression.

“Yeah, you’re right. Sorry Will.”

“I’ll give you guys a few minutes,” Will said as he moved himself to the front desk, away from Nico and Percy.

He was in the middle of organizing files into their proper spaces when Kaya popped in, curls wet and looking fresh from the archery fields. She rested her hands on the counter before looking up at Will with a wicked bright grin.

“So I saw Percy walking here, do you think they’re going to throw down?” Kayla asked conspiratorially, ready for whatever information that Will could give her.

“They were just joking around so I doubt—hey!” Will said as he flung his arm over the counter and grabbed Kayla by the collar of her tee-shirt. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Trying to get a piece of the hot gossip!” Kayla whined, her lip jutting out. Her eyes the definition of a puppy dog’s. “Come on Will! Please?”

Will groaned and pointedly looked away. Call him a sap, but Will loved his little siblings— every single one of them. If love was all it took, many of them would have never seen a war or lost a patient or anyone they loved, and they still would have Lee and Michael looking out for them. But with their father generally distant and uninterested in any of them, and with family situations being what they were for demigods, after he had become the head councilor Will made sure to take his responsibilities to his siblings seriously. And his chief responsibilities were keeping them alive, and making them happy. They were his family after all. He had a hard time refusing his siblings anything, even if that meant compromising on his sanity. Whether that be two-in-the-morning Disney Sing-a-longs, fidget spinners, or getting into debt with the Hephaestus cabin to get new speakers in the cabin. Will had done it, and hadn’t regretted it. But there were three things he couldn’t be pushed on; activity schedules, clean up days, and infirmary confidentiality.

“That’s a no,” Will said before sighing, “whatever is going on back there is none of our business. Whatever they are talking about is none of our business. You should know better, Kayla.”

“You aren’t even the slightest bit curious? Even though you like him?” Kayla asked, pointing in the direction.

“I am not— _what_?” Will spluttered, staring openly at Kayla. “I do not like Nico!”

“Funny, I only said him. Oh ho ho, so you like Nico?” Kayla asked in a conspiratorial whisper, leaning against the counter.

“Cute, Kayla, really cute. What part of me not liking Nico is hard for you to understand,” Will asked, wildly gesticulating between him and the area down the hall.

“Well you’ve been acting all whispery and weird since he came to the infirmary,” Kayla pointed out as she sat herself on his rolley chair and spun around idly. “I just thought you were butthurt because you made a move and Nico’s straight or something.”

“Listen, first off, I have not been acting weird. I’ve been acting normal. I am normal, the epitome of normal. Look at me, I am so normal,” Will told her primly as he sipped his coffee. “Secondly, you should never assume someone’s sexuality. That, my dear sister, is how we fall into the pit of heteronormative nonsense. Thirdly, I have not put any moves on Nico. He is my patient and that would be irresponsible.”

“First off, you wish your plants goodnight and you prefer the cookie to the cream on an Oreo so you are a certifiable freak. Secondly, everyone knows Nico had a crush on Annabeth. Thirdly, you have been making goo-goo eyes at di Angelo since he got here,” Kayla told him as she jutted her hip out and planted her hand on it.

“Okay no—“

“Okay yes!” Kayla told him. “So what are you going to do?”

“Kayla, my buddy, my sister, my pal, I have absolutely no idea,” Will admitted honestly as he pushed Kayla and the chair a bit, watching her roll, before releasing a breath. “Trust me, if you even knew the half of it…Gods, I don’t want you to know the half of it. You would never let me live it down.”

“What? You can’t tell me that and not tell me! And the fact that you totally pissed off Drew earlier just proves you suck,” Kayla scoffed. “Do you really want Drew of all people mad at you.”

“Ugh, don’t talk to me about Drew right now,” Will groaned as he rubbed his temples. “That’s a can of worms I don’t want to open again.”

“Yeah well you’re the one who opened that can to begin with.”

“Don’t remind me,” Will muttered before finally giving up. “I know, I know. I need to talk to her, or at least get it so she doesn’t keep cursing the air I breath with, with her negativity that is.”

“Good luck with that,” Kayla said, looking very much like she considered it a lost cause. _It probably was_ , Will admitted to himself. 

“Don’t you have somewhere to be?” Will asked her.

“No, I’m all yours. And don’t forget the day after tomorrow you’ll be back to your regular schedule. No more all day shifts for you, after di Angelo gets out of here. Chiron’s made sure the ball’s in your court now,” Kayla said as she snatched the patient chart from the desk. “Oooo, so di Angelo’s birthday’s in January.”

“If you are going to be mouthy with me I will smack you,” Will warned his sister half-heartedly.

For a little while longer they chilled together, just chatting about music lessons and archery. Kayla helped Will with some of the organizing that needed to get done on the files. It was the moment after Will had finished with the H through K section that Percy emerged from down the hall. He gave Will a weak smile and Kayla a friendly wave before leaving in a flurry of movement as he grabbed Riptide from the weapon cubby.

“What was that about?” Kayla asked, her curiosity only seemingly grown.

“No idea, I’m going to nonchalantly check on Nico I think,” Will noted, hooking on his ipod and letting his sweet tunes wash over him in the form of Daft Punk.

“Good luck. Hopefully his bite’s not poisonous.” 

Will sighed and grabbed his broom and tray, being sure to sweep as he went along, letting the rhythm guide him. As naturally as he could have, he made it to Nico’s bed. He was sitting on his bed, face still smudged with mud, looking horribly relieved and incredibly sad.

“You okay?” Will asked him quietly, stopping his sweeping. Nico quickly scrubbed at his face, only smudging mud and wetness further. 

“I followed your advice I think,” Nico said vaguely, looking forward but without any real focus. “We’ll see how successful that is…the whole communicating thing.”

“I’m glad that I could be of assistance,” Will offered, and watched as Nico di Angelo looked at him.

There was something wrong with his face; he was smiling. A little, tiny, helpless thing. Like a baby bird that was hatching out of an egg, unsure of what to make of everything around him. And his eyes were still watery and his face was still mucky, but Will swore it was the prettiest thing he had seen in a while. Prettier than Percy or Reyna, prettier than that autumn day and the lake in his dreams, there wasn’t much that could rival Nico di Angelo.

“Do you think…do you think we could be friends you think?” Nico asked before scoffing and shuddering, rubbing his arms as if he had just gotten the willy-nillies. “Gods, I sound like a little kid. I sound ridiculous, how do you do this friendly thing without wanting to throw up.”

“Takes practice,” Will said before giving a smile he couldn’t help. “Hey Nico, guess what?”

“What?”

“We were already friends, you emotionally stunted moron,” Will teased. “Now wash your face and get back into bed. I have all sorts of things I want to experiment on you today, while you and me have the whole infirmary.”

As Nico walked off Will couldn’t help think that his music choice was incredibly fitting as the melody continued to play. Will really didn’t know what he was going to do about this dream and Nico di Angelo.

* * *

Nico was significantly better after his ambrosia and mud-treatment, and it actually did feel like the shadow-gunk in his system had subsided a substantial degree. It definitely wouldn’t go away, for a long time. But any progress was good progress, and with the dark circles under his eyes somewhat lessened, and a bit of color in his face, he was looking like less of a real ghost every minute and looking more like a substantial real boy.

“I think we may need to approach this more like, a mono case for instance,” Will explained to Nico as he moved Nico’s foot around, getting a sense for how the fibula had healed. “So, mono is a viral infection that has a long incubation period, so often the virus has been there a while before a person is visibly sick. There is no classic pill or shot we can give the patient, and they might be symptomatic for months. The worst symptoms may usually present for a few weeks, but a patient remains sick for a while longer, and doctors often have to worry about secondary illnesses with the compromised immune system. Most likely, you’ve actually been sick with this power overuse for a long time, but it hadn’t been stressed to this point, and even if you do feel better you might still be actually sick for a while after. We just need to monitor and be careful after we get through this period without any more serious complications arising.”

“But do you think I’ll be able to shadow-travel again?” Nico asked, sounding oddly hopeful, and Will liked the way that suited his voice. Good, Will thought. Giving him something to work for will keep him focused and attentive. Will could work with that. 

“Yes, I do. But I don’t think you’ll be at the same level that you were for a long while, we aren’t going to push it, but we’ll see how you’re doing after tomorrow,” Will told him, releasing his foot. “And it’ll also depend on if you are planning on shadowing traveling yourself out of trees and falling on your legs or something because that’s what I’m assuming happened to your legs.”

“That didn’t happen,” Nico scoffed, colorless eyes narrowing at him.

“Well, they didn’t heal well. Doesn’t that bother you?”

“No, not really,” Nico said with a frown.

“Well, that’s the wrong question, considering you have an insane pain tolerance. The question I should ask is, do you ever have discomfort in your legs?”

“…my knees twinge sometimes. Does that have anything to do with it?” Nico admitted as he bent and straightened his legs thoughtfully.

“Maybe. We could always rebreak and reheal the bone. It’s not pleasant but it’ll get rid of the persistent—what? You have a look on your face.”

“Aren’t you going to ask me how I did it?” Nico said, not acknowledging Will’s comment, his eyes searching his face for something. Will didn’t know what.

“Unless you want to talk about it, no,” Will promised him. That wasn’t his job, and he didn’t want to assume anything.

“There isn’t much to tell,” Nico huffed, looking rather unsettled.

“I’m sure that isn’t true, but I would rather not make you uncomfortable,” Will said thoughtfully, which made Nico twitch with annoyance.

“A Canadian tried to take an axe to my leg, but I was faster,” Nico reported as he crossed his arms over his chest, he sounded deathly serious, but something about the way he said it made Will pause, look up, and search his face.

“Are you joking with me, Nico di Angelo? Are we telling jokes to each other?” Will asked him, partially confused, partially delighted by this turn of events. His lips twisted up into a legitimate grin. “Hardy har.”

“I lost a fight with a boulder, but I won the rematch,” Nico said, still looking stone-cold, but there was something trying to fight its’ way up—a grin.

“Sure you did, Rocky,” Will said, unfazed.

“That pun was disgusting, Solace.”

“You basically set yourself up for it,” Will warned him. For a moment they both smiled at each other, and it did something funny to his stomach. No, no, no, Will scolded himself as he released Nico’s (very fine looking) legs. Not good—

“Incoming, Will!” Kayla’s voice called from the front. Two girls, Nyssa Barrera and Billie Ng made their way to where Will and Nico were sitting. Billie collapsed dramatically onto a cot, running her hand through her stylish her blue-dyed hair. Nyssa, who was taller than Will by about a head, and with the body of a stunt double, yanked Will up and pulled him into a hug. 

“My body has forsaken me,” Nysssa told him as she continued to squeeze him, her muscles shaped and defined by long hours in the forge making him feel like his bones were going to pop. “So shut up and hug me, Will Solace, or else I’m going to stick my monkey wrench somewhere really uncomfortable.”

“Uh, ow?” Will offered, from both the idea and the cramps he was feeling tense in her abdomen. He let the taller girl nuzzle against him as he let just a drip of his power seep into her. Immediately she relaxed, and Will felt the pain and the spasms subside. He gave Nico a helpless look who looked on as if Nyssa and Billie were rare creatures meant to be approached with caution.

“Ah, damnit Solace, that feels good,” Nyssa groaned, and it wasn’t an awful sound by any stretch of the imagination. “Be my hot water bottle and when I make it big I’ll take care of you for the rest of my life.”

“So you’re just using my for my body, huh?” Will laughed, unable to help his amusement at the idea. “Can’t say I didn’t see that coming, but I’ll need to decline. I’m an independant man.”

“Please do me next,” Billie Ng asked as she continued to lay on the bed beside Nico. Nyssa reluctantly let Will go and Will was immediately latched onto around his waist by Billie who sighed as his magic soothed her nausea.

“Did you guys sync up again?” Will asked them suspiciously. “Do you have enough supplies?”

“Mother nature’s a bitch,” Nyssa muttered, sitting down next to Billie. 

“Hey, don’t blame my mom for this,” Billie told her as she rubbed her cheek against Will’s shirt. “We’ve got enough supplies, but painkillers are in low supply.” 

“Sorry about that, I put in an order for more painkiller so they should be coming soon. Also, side note, when I used to imagine girls clinging to me, it wasn’t quite like this,” Will pointed out to them wryly, letting Billie release him with little decorum. She leaned back on the cot like she owned it.

“So you never used to imagine Silena like this? And Beckendorf?” Billie snickered and Will felt himself blush. “You adorable little adulterous whore.”

“Hey! I had crushes! And let’s not get into the embarrassing crushes game, haven’t the two of you been calling Jason Grace ‘McSteamy’ the past few months, and Percy Jackson was McDreamy before that!”

“Don’t worry Will, you’ll always be the camp’s George O’Malley to us,” Billie promised him sweetly.

“And that’s supposed to make me feel better?” Will demanded as he tapped his foot on the ground. “So I’ll just be a character that gets shafted in a later season, never to be the main love interest? I wanna be a main love interest!”

“What are you guys even talking about?” Nico asked, looking interested but wary.

“Grey’s Anatomy, quality entertainment,” Nyssa commented, giving Nico a thumb’s up before returning her incredulous dark gaze back to Will. “And did you forget the last time you were a main love interest? It was a whole big headache for everyone at this camp. We do not need any more love intrigue at this camp from either the Apollo or Aphrodite cabins.”

“Oh! But if you wanted to know Valentina was telling me--” Billie started before Will held up his hand.

“Nope, nope. Don’t wanna know. Nope. Aphrodite cabin gossip about a particular daughter of said cabin is a no go. Nope,” Will said firmly before sticking his fingers in his ears dramatically before reaching over to grab a new smiley-bandage and replace the one on Nyssa’s cheek. “Lalala, not listening.”

“If anyone has got intrigue, it’s di Angelo,” Kayla reminded them, popping her head in from down the hall. 

They all stopped and looked at Nico, who glared at Kayla but couldn’t seem to muster up any heat. He just sunk back on his bed, looking exhausted, as if the idea of drama weighed on him heavily.

“I have no love intrigue,” Nico muttered as he worked his jaw. “I have nothing to contribute to this conversation.”

Billie and Nyssa and Kayla all looked at each other and then back to Will, and then back to Nico. Will followed their gazes worriedly, unsure of what was going to happen. However both Nyssa and Billie leaned in, looking understanding in the older-sister kind of way.

“It’s alright, we’ve all been there with the unavaliable love interest,” Billie promised him with a shrug.

“Plus, I love Annabeth and all, but she’s kind of intense. What you need, di Angelo, is a girl who can relax you,” Nyssa said offhandedly. “Plenty of volunteers in my cabin.”

“And in mine,” Billie offered, clapping her hands together excitedly. “You are hot, and you did save everyone.”

“What are you talking about?” Nico asked, openly staring between the two girls.

“Nico, kid, you are a good looking son of the Big Three, and that’s besides the fact that you are a certified hero, you could have your pick,” Nyssa said, clapping her large hand on his shoulder. “Though of course, I prefer someone who knows how to get dirty.”

Billie giggled as Nyssa wrapped her arm around her waist.

“You guys are crazy,” Nico said as he shook his head, as if that were his definitive answer.

“Yes, they are, and now they’re leaving,” Will said before chiding, “no teasing my patients.”

“Anyways, I’m glad to hear you are staying, Harley’s super pumped. Feel free to pop by at any time,” Nyssa told him with a friendly wave.

“Just don’t kill the grass on the way there, or else Miranda might get testy!”

And with that, both girls left hand-in-hand with Kayla trailing them and chatting with them.

“See, people like you,” Will said, waving at the two departing girls. Nico was still watching their retreating figures as if they were a force of nature that Nico had just managed to live through.

“Are they…?” Nico croaked, his gaze was strangely intense.

“Oh, yeah, they’re together,” Will said idly as he sat back down on his rolly chair. “Fun couple, but I’m sorry if that was overwhelming for you. Also, sorry if you felt like they were teasing you, about Annabeth, they meant well by it. I mean…especially after today with Percy—”

“I…” Nico interrupted him, before he swallowed heavily as if trying to work something out his throat. “I…I’ve never liked Annabeth. Well, that’s not true. I like Annabeth, just not like that. I’ve…I’ve never liked Annabeth like that.”

“Oh…” Will said slowly, trying to compute that information. Nico looked up at Will ruefully through his bangs.

“I never liked Annabeth…I…I liked Percy Jackson.”


	6. Tragic First Love Stories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Well, since starting anything with Nico di Angelo obviously isn’t going to go anywhere, and I had no idea why, I…I guess I’m just not going to go for it. If I tried it would be a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Will said as he waved off Cecil. “I mean, how hard could not falling for one boy be?”
> 
> In the aftermath of the battle Will has a strange dream, one that seems to predict his heart being broken by Nico di Angelo. The only problem being, Will has only really talked to him once. Will makes up his mind then and there that falling in love with a boy that will only end up breaking his heart is the last thing he will do. Or so he hopes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we have part one of the final day in the infirmary, as well as the end of the first act of this fic. I’m actually really proud at how soon I managed to update this. I’m putting this down as a victory.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

“I never liked Annabeth…I…I liked Percy Jackson.”

Will liked to think that in general his ADHD wasn’t as bad as say, Antonio who had a hard time keeping still, or Violet who would talk your ear off in a million directions. However, his brain shut down and went into full impulse mode. He grabbed Nico’s hands and blurted out,

“You liked Percy Jackson? Me too! What was it? The green eyes? The curly hair—oh! Oh! It was the sexy intense bad-boy expression right?”

When Will finally actually looked at Nico, he was outwardly staring at Will, as if Will had just offered to take Nico unicycling over burning coals while singing _God Save The Queen_ backwards and in Spanish while in matching tutus. Will’s face burst into heat as he let go of Nico’s hands and stared up at the ceiling, trying to collect himself and the shattered illusion that he wasn’t an absolute wreck of a demigod.

To Will’s shock, Nico stifled a chuckle. He tried to hide it for a few moments before bursting into gut wrenching laughter, laughing so hard that he was wiping tears from his eyes. It took him a few tries to collect himself, but by that point Will was smiling along with him.

“Sorry, sorry, that just really took me by surprise,” Nico admitted, his low voice still warbling with the remnants of his laughing fit, fanning his face which had taken a pink tinge. “If I had to answer though, it was because he is a hero. The first one I ever saw, and I thought he was the coolest person I had ever met in my whole life.”

“Percy Jackson is a pretty cool dude,” Will promised him seriously. “Decently crush worthy.”

“But...you know…I accepted it, and when I did that I kind of grew out of it, if that makes any sense. So there it is, my tragic first love story,” Nico said, seemingly resigned about what seemed to have been a great ordeal. Will didn’t know much about Nico’s actual Tragic Backstory TM, but he had heard whispers. What Nico was saying had probably been harder than he was letting on, and Nico was brave for that. It made Will admire him more…in a very platonic way obviously.

“Was that what you were talking about with him?” Will asked as he rested his hands on his knees to keep from doing something stupid again.

“Well, I admitted after the battle what I basically just told you but…he wanted to talk. Mostly apologize for things.”

“For what?”

“Well, for example he tried to kill me a few times, or at least made a serious attempt once and then wanted to kill me a few other times,” Nico said with a very nonchalant shrug. Will stared at him, and then realized that though sometimes with Nico it was hard to tell, Nico definitely wasn’t joking.

“Wait, he seriously tried to kill you? And you still liked him?” Will asked as he squinted at Nico.

“He also thought that I had betrayed him at that point, but yeah. Choked me out and everything.”

“Nico, seriously, you still liked a guy who tried to kill you?”

“I’m working on the self-worth thing,” Nico half-whined, rubbing his temples, before looking at Will with seemingly saintly patience. “Listen, that doesn’t come over night. I’m not the main character of some shitty novel. We’re demigods and besides that we’re Big Three kids. Sometimes baser natures take over and we just react. I know that better than anyone. I know those aren’t great excuses, but that’s what happened. Percy apologized for that stuff and I forgave him, that simple. We’re going to try to work on being friends, and that will be nice for a change.”

“I’m not going to say I understand, but I trust your judgment on that,” Will said, feeling oddly defensive of Nico and the situation he had been put in. But he had also been friends with Percy for years, and knew it wasn’t his nature to just lash out either. The grey area Nico was describing probably really did exist, and Will would just have to trust that they had worked through it. “Still, I’m sorry you were put in that position. That must’ve sucked.” 

“Yeah, it really did,” Nico admitted, and Will could tell that it was hard for Nico to explain how bad it must’ve been. “I never really wanted to…come to terms with my feelings. Gods, that was part of the reason I was always getting into these giant messes. But running doesn’t suit me, Jason and Reyna both helped to show me that, and…you seem so happy being out. At peace. To feel peace…I would like that. Talking with Percy today was my third real step.”

“Third?”

“First was telling Percy how I felt. The second was…” Nico stopped himself and looked away quickly. “Forget it.”

“Was it becoming friends with me?” Will asked teasingly, pointing at himself. When Nico didn’t respond Will felt a large smile break out across his face. “Aw, Death Boy, that’s so nice. I think I’m going to throw up kittens and rainbows.”

“Shut up,” Nico grumbled, still refusing to look at him. “You are out and friends with…with gay people. I just thought it would be a good idea to have an ally is all.”

“Well I’m happy,” Will promised him. “That’s a great honor that you’ve bestowed upon me. I’ll take it very seriously.”

“Gods you are such a weirdo,” Nico said, looking annoyed.

“But you are friends with this weirdo.”

“Nope. Nevermind. I’m not.”

“Sorry, you can’t just take back the friend check I’ve already cashed it in my friend bank and it’s nonrefundable,” Will said with a shrug and a sympathetic look. Nico just scoffed and rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t hide his yawn. “Tired?”

“Yeah…I guess that conversation took more out of me then I thought,” Nico actually admitted which maintained Will’s smile.

“I’ll let you rest then,” Will said as he stood up. “And I’ll let you know when dinner’s coming.”

“Hey…Will?” Nico asked as he pulled up his covers. “Thanks for…not freaking out or anything.”

“No problem.”

* * *

The first thing that Will did as soon as he left the infirmary for that evening was to high-tail it to where Lou Ellen was standing by the edge of the campfire pit, wrap his arms around her, and scream into her shoulder while jumping with her up and down.

“Oh my Gods what is happening?! Who broke Will Solace?” Lou Ellen cried out as Cecil looked on at the outburst with amusement. Will let her go and tried to compose himself, but found it much more difficult than he had been expecting.

“I think I figured out my dream,” Will told them both before clarifying, “well, I can’t tell you what maybe I think it’s about because privacy issues but I think I figured it out.”

“Uh, wow, vague answer much,” Cecil noted, eyebrow raised at him.

“Sorry, sorry, I’m just so relieved,” Will said as he stretched, letting his sweatshirt sleeves dip and pressing up on his tippy toes. He felt the evening air cool and sweet against his face, the scent of campfire and cut grass and deep woods a gentle and wonderful in his breath, and it was all wonderful. “I feel refreshed.”

And he ought to. He figured out what had been weighing on him for two whole days. Obviously what Nico had not wanted to do anymore was keep his sexuality a secret. Will was comforting him like a friend and Nico was ready to move on. Obviously. This was it. No more reason to push, no more reason to worry. Done. Finished. Will had figured it out. Will wasn’t going to fall in love and get his heart broken, nope, Will had taken on a role of dear friend and confidante. And if those thoughts sounded like he was just trying to fool himself, Will was just facing reality. Reality. Yep. Nothing else to see here.

“Not to rain on your parade but…there was kind of a situation,” Lou Ellen said regretfully, patting Will’s shoulder. 

And that’s how Will ended up waiting outside the Aphrodite Cabin with two bags of makeup that had been responsible for the simultaneous makeovers of the dumb campers who had dared to steal them from the cabin; i.e. the Stolls, Alice and Julia, and Antonio. Will hadn’t needed to know that Aphrodite Cabin and Hecate Cabin had a collab on some hexes and makeup, nor wanted to see what that would create, so not he was not happy. Not a single bit. In fact it was safe to say his good mood was completely ruined. 

This was especially the case when Drew walked up, obviously pissed but still making her tee shirt and jeans look fabulous. She glared at him darkly, as if he insulted her by just being in her presence. She immediately crossed her arms over her chest, showing off her rings on her fingers and turned up her nose at him.

“Piper,” she muttered under her breath. “That little no good thieving—“

“You kiss your mother with that mouth?” Will interrupted, earning another seething glare. “I’m just as happy about this as you are, trust me. If I could, I would ignore the situation. But obviously that isn’t working for either of us. So how about we do this instead? Do you want to tell Piper why we don’t get along, or should I. Because if we don’t she’ll keep trying to make peace between us, and we both know you don’t want that.”

“Oh please, sweetie. I don’t care about my dirty laundry, not enough to give my meddling sister ammo to use against me,” Drew sighed softly and sweetly, her lips colored a bubblegum pink. Will gritted his teeth, knowing that she was attempting to goad him. Ammo? Him? Was that all he was to her?

“Fine, I’ll take responsibility since you are incapable of doing so. A running theme I’ve found,” Will snapped, trying to channel his most calm and composed self but finding it difficult. “Not caring about actual leadership, not helping your siblings in any meaningful way, not actually coming up with a good excuse for hurting me just blaming everything on an outdated hazing ritual—“ 

“What you saw was what you got, honey,” Drew said as she motioned to herself before crooning as if he was a child, “is Silly Willy still all sad because he got dumped.”

“Yes Drew. I was sad for a while, but I’m not sad anymore about anything but you. Forgive me for thinking that maybe, just maybe, that we had something worth a damn and for knowing that you are more than some Empousa with a better hairstylist like you like to make everyone think you are, but seeing that the image of the impenetrable Drew Tanaka is more important than anyone else will ever be,” Will just sighed tiredly, rubbing his eyes. “Your act didn’t work, no one followed your lead, and now you’re knocked down a few pegs and just looking for cheap shots. Honestly Drew, you just exhaust me. Take your makeup and let it rest.”

“Why? So you can go back to your boyfriend who you’ve got all holed up in the clinic?” Drew asked angrily, her perfectly plucked eyebrow twitching. He took satisfaction with the idea that he had needled her just a little.

Will felt his rarely there temper begin to boil over.

“Drew, seriously, you either drop this or prepare yourself. Choose your words wisely,” Will growled at her, feeling his battle honed instincts begging to be kicked in. Will wasn’t a fighter, not by nature, but he certainly wasn’t a push over. He had just about had enough of Drew’s bad attitude. 

“Make me,” Drew challenged him, seemingly just as ready as he was.

“Apollo versus Aphrodite, next game of Capture the Flag. And you can tell Piper how she got herself into this mess when Clarisse la Rue and I kick your butts into next year,” Will announced to Drew and anyone within ear shot, his control cracking like ice on a warm day.

“I don’t know what’s happening but hell yeah!” shouted Mark Wilkinson, one of the Ares kids from across the green as he dragged a dozing Clovis from where he had fallen asleep. Clovis’ slumbering body knocked over a couple spears which sent the child of Ares swearing like a sailor. Will pressed his palm to his face.

* * *

“Shit Solace, I'm proud of you. Way to finally stand your ground, and what a way to cash that favor I owe you for Ellis. Ares cabin is with you all the way," Clarisse said as she grasped his arm before walking away with her posse of siblings following close behind, giving hoots and hollers to Aphrodite Cabin. Piper hadn’t looked up from where she was resting her head against the table the whole breakfast, and the rest of the cabin was looking pretty pissed at Drew who primly tore apart her toast as if she had no clue what was happening.

Will collapsed back on his seat heavily. This sucked, and Will wasn’t happy. He had every reason to be, but he wasn’t.

"You didn't follow your What Would Grandpa Vernon Do rule, did you?" Cecil asked him suspiciously from the seat across from Will. “That was impulsive, even for you.”

Will winced at that as he toyed with his beads. Will had grown up tucked away from most of the world with his Grandparents in a place called Abundance, Texas. It had been a wholesome normal upbringing by any stretch of the imagination, until he had almost died in a monster attack. The ruse was that his mother had wanted a stable life for him, away from fame and touring. And thought it was definitely a part of it, it was mostly because of the horrible things that lurked in big cities and the bad things that kept happening.

His grandfather was the town's patriarch. A stern, but caring man who had raised Will alongside his Grandma Florence. He could almost see his grandfather in his mind's eye, tapping his booted foot, crossing his arms over his pastor garb, narrowing his grey-blue eyes and drawling, "what in God's green earth do you think you solved with that little temper tantrum William Elijah?" 

He missed him, and Will swallowed that tinge of homesickness as he considered mental Grandpa’s advice. 

"That's the problem, as my pastor he would probably admonish me for giving in to my anger and not listening to my good sense. As my Papa, once, he almost stabbed a man with a spork when the guy said something disparaging about my mom. And when I mean almost, I mean it was in his hand and prepared to be plunged," Will explained as he mimed the action of Spork-Assaulting to Lou Ellen and Cecil before sighing. "Do you understand my problem? Papa sent me mixed messages." 

“Will…” Lou Ellen said to him, tapping her black-painted nails against the picnic table, obviously trying to find a way to help but seeing nothing. 

“Can I count on Hermes and Hecate? I know Piper’s going to recruit Jason and Percy, and she’s in talks with Athena Cabin. And I also know that Jake Mason owes Annabeth after she found those scrolls for him so I think Hephaestus is going to them too.”

“Don’t worry, bro, I’ll talk with the Stolls. But considering last night’s debacle, you got an ally with Hermes Cabin,” Cecil promised him and offered a fist bump.

“I don’t like the way Drew talks to you, I think some pig bombs are in her future,” Lou Ellen said with another fist bump, before returning to her table with a wave. Cecil turned around and relayed his news to his siblings who began happily discussing plans.

When Will finally got to the infirmary after dealing with his siblings, he felt like he had already been through a whole day. His favorite patient, i.e. his only patient, was sitting in bed reading. Will smiled at Nico, but quickly noted the shadows like rims under his eyes, filled to the brink with darkness.

“Didn’t sleep well?” Will asked him, thankful to focus on something that wasn’t himself. “Nightmares?”

Nico shrugged and closed his book, which seemed to be his answer. Will tried to read the title but it took a few moments for the words to come together into something he could actually understand.

“Tolkien, eh?” Will asked him. “Going with a brother of mine is always a good choice.”

“J.R.R. Tolkien was a son of Apollo?” Nico asked, seemingly startled by that revelation.

“Is it that surprising that a man that obsessed with poetry and language could be a son of Apollo?” Will pointed out to him as he took his hand, feeling out with his powers for Nico’s state. “Unlike our father, some of us have to be half way decent at it. So? What do you think? Like it so far?”

“I think I do, a lot of the names and words keep making it difficult,” Nico admitted before huffing, sounding very frustrated. “My dyslexia isn’t usually so bad.”

“You are also sleep deprived,” Will pointed out to him. Thankfully the darkness hadn’t built back up in his system, though he wasn’t about to talk to Nico’s ear off about the absorption qualities of magic muck. He checked Nico’s wounds and saw that the steady doses of ambrosia and nectar had healed up his outward injuries, with a day of rest and food, Will might even able to confidently discharge Nico the next morning. “Good, besides the sleepiness. I had the nymphs fix you up something for breakfast.”

Will offered the bottle of smoothie he had kept in the fridge. Nico took an experimental sip before finding it palatable enough that he didn’t try to kill him.

“What’s in this thing? Besides strawberries.”

“Well besides our camp-grown strawberries, it has quick oats, banana, yogurt, milk, and honey in it. It’s a good recipe and has everything you need for the most important meal of the day in drinkable form,” Will pointed out as he sipped his own smoothie. “I figured smoothie breakfasts would be a good way to go for a while, I’ll print out the action plan I made for you, but basically the gist is to get you to gain healthy weight in a way that won’t make you want to kill someone. Three meals a day, and post work out snacks since I know that as soon as you get out of here you are probably going to be hitting the training fields. I’m sure it’ll feel a bit like bootcamp, but as soon as you are in a healthy weight zone it’ll just be about maintenance.”

“Why do I need to bother with that?” Nico asked, obviously not interested, but continuing to drink his smoothie.

“I don’t know, do you ever want to grow?” Will asked him honestly. “I’m not the one who’s going to be responsible for stunting your growth at two inches.”

“I am not that short,” Nico said with a scowl.

“What was that? I couldn’t hear you from all the way down there.” 

Suddenly a pillow was smacked against his head and Will was sent sprawling on the ground. Will leveled a halfhearted glare at Nico, who sat as proudly as any king upon his throne, looking at Will from over his sharp nose as if he were a mere peasant who had dared to insult his royal person. Will just shook his head with a smile before pulling himself up on his feet.

“Oh, hello,” a voice greeted. “Am I interrupting something?”

Will looked over to see Jason Grace standing in the hallway, carrying a backpack. Good looking guy, though, not Will’s type at all. Maybe it was the blonde-blue-eyes thing, since Will couldn’t really ever see himself flirting with a dude who could be his cousin (not that they weren’t related as all Greek and Roman demigods were technically somehow related but not physically and genetically…it was all rather confusing and everyone just chose to ignore it for their own good). It might have also been that, though Will knew that Jason had loosened up quite a bit since he had first been introduced at CHB, he was still a rather serious and honorable guy, both perfectly fine qualities but Will had always preferred boys who knew how to cut loose and joke.

_Like Nico di Angelo?_ His brain unhelpfully supplied.

_Shut up, you. We’ve solved this. Don’t do that._

“Nothing important,” Nico told him, cool and composed.

“How is he doing, Will?” Jason asked, intently scanning Nico’s face as if searching him for illness and disease and injury.

“I’m right here, Jason,” Nico said crossly before Will could answer the question.

“And I trust Will, who is not only a counselor but also the head healer of the camp to give it to me straight. Unlike you, since I actually know what you are like,” Jason pointed out to Nico’s chagrin, who slumped back in his bed with a pout.

“Damn Romans and their regard for authority,” Nico muttered under his breath. “You are just as bad as Reyna.” 

“Nico’s actually doing much better,” Will said holding his hands out and waving Nico down. That seemingly defused the other’s annoyance. “His infections are gone and the darkness isn’t going to make him disappear if he isn’t stupid about it. Like I was just explaining to Nico, we’re mostly going to be focusing on maintaining health and gaining weight once I release him.”

“If you could give me the plan too, I would be really grateful. Just so I can make sure this one stays on track,” Jason said with a jerk of his head towards where Nico was sitting, blowing bubbles into his smoothie, obviously ignoring the two of them. “It’s important to keep Nico honest, otherwise he’ll just avoid.”

“You see Will, everyone lies, but people only get up in your business about it if you are a child of Hades. That’s what I learned,” Nico told Will bitterly. “Double standards, all of them.”

“I didn’t come to argue, just know I care,” Jason said seemingly giving up for the moment, before turning to Will as he sat down on Nico’s bed. Nico made a show of glaring and looking like he was about to hiss at him, but there wasn’t much actual heat in it. “Talking about arguing, I heard about what happened with Drew, Will. Can’t say I’m not sympathetic. Just wanted to let you know that before our team wins at Capture the Flag next week.”

“Capture the Flag?” Nico asked, his interest piqued. Will groaned, his nightmare still seemingly unfolding no matter where he went.

“If you were really so righteous you would join my team. They already have Percy and Annabeth. Why do they get you too?”

“Boyfriend duty,” Jason said and Will made a face. Nico was still obviously confused, and Will decided for the sake of everyone it was just easier for him to get it straight from the horse’s mouth.

“Basically me and Drew got into it last night. The challenge was put forth,” Will explained the less gruesome version to Nico.

“I can’t believe you used to go out with her,” Jason said with a shudder, shattering Will’s hopes of keeping it less gruesome. Nico blinked, obviously absorbing the information slowly.

Will looked at Jason Grace for a moment. Somewhat hurt, somewhat surprised that a guy so powerful and with so much prestige could be so utterly clueless. Then again, considering Jason’s infamous love triangle situation, Will figured that love wasn’t Jason’s strong suit. It wasn’t Will’s either, but still. Any guy who was dumb enough to get himself into a love triangle and then stay in it for a while because he was indecisive wouldn’t get it.

“I went out with Drew because at the time I liked Drew. Even if our relationship is over and Drew is difficult I was always true to myself,” Will told him sternly and completely unamused, donning his head counselor tone. “I know everyone would like me to be happy about this, but I’m really not since I basically fell right into what Drew wanted. I’m going to work things out with her somehow, either on or off the Capture the Flag game, but in the meantime, I don’t appreciate the implications of what you just said. You owe me an apology. _Now_.”

Jason was staring at him with outward shock like Will had just slapped him in the face with a dead fish. Will realized that Phoebe was right, he did the authority of a praetor when it came to Romans. If only he could shock his siblings into silence too. Nico’s mouth twisted into a savage sharp grin that cut wide and wild across his face and sent pleasant shivers down Will’s spine. 

“Jason, you might want to apologize. Not only does Will historically have no fear when it comes to Big Three Kids, but he’ll also be the one stitching up your team after we kick your sorry butts,” Nico di Angelo announced, propping his feet on Jason’s lap, looking like a cat who had gotten the cream. “Will’s my ally, so I’m going to be his.”

“Singing Sirens, di Angelo is on our team! Yes!” Austin cried, and Emma, Violet, and Antonio who were peaking in from down the hall began jumping up in down and slapping high fives. Someone began blasting DJ Khalid from the front, and Chiron’s voice echoed as he tried to reprimand over the music.

“I really walked myself into that one, didn’t I?” Jason said, looking legitimately sorry and with a small nervous grin. “I’m really sorry, Will. Seriously. When Piper decides to skin me, will you consider healing me?”

“I’ll even do it free of charge and with a complimentary lollipop,” Will said with a smile of his own. Nico reached over to pat Jason’s shoulder and Jason accepted it like a good sport. Maybe this wasn’t going to be all bad, Will thought to himself. Just maybe.


	7. Things Go Awry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Well, since starting anything with Nico di Angelo obviously isn’t going to go anywhere, and I had no idea why, I…I guess I’m just not going to go for it. If I tried it would be a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Will said as he waved off Cecil. “I mean, how hard could not falling for one boy be?”
> 
> In the aftermath of the battle Will has a strange dream, one that seems to predict his heart being broken by Nico di Angelo. The only problem being, Will has only really talked to him once. Will makes up his mind then and there that falling in love with a boy that will only end up breaking his heart is the last thing he will do. Or so he hopes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s here! Chapter seven of Break My Heart! Though this chapter is mostly set up for the highly anticipated Capture The Flag match (which is next chapter) and Nico and Will being friends (before some romantic development of course), I think that having them become close is important. 
> 
> Thanks so much for all the support on the last chapter, it really inspired me to update this soon! : )
> 
> Enjoy!

Will looked over Nico’s chart, and looked back at Nico. He sat, fully dressed, on the edge off his bed. He didn’t meet Will’s gaze, for whatever reason, but he was probably nervous about what Will might say. So Will reached out to pat Nico’s knee to hopefully get him to calm down, at least a little bit.

“Hey, it’s only good news,” Will promised him, before retracting his hand. Nico watched it go, cautiously.

“Yeah…?”

“You are healthy enough to be discharged, which means I can go back to being a lazy shmuck,” Will chuckled and Nico just rolled his eyes.

“As if I would believe that for a hot second,” Nico grumbled.

“Oh ye of little faith,” Will said saintly as he stretched, and he felt Nico watching him closely. “What?”

“You are so relaxed around me. I don’t get it,” Nico said shortly. Will blinked. How the Hades had he managed to convince Nico of that? Will had been a nervous wreck around the kid for days. Not anymore, because, obviously, he had figured out everything and was cool.

“I…uh…” Will said slowly, trying to piece together anything that might make any sense. “Well, I like you so—“

“You like me?” Nico asked incredulously.

“Aren’t you the one who asked me to be your friend?” Will squawked, his ears going hot as he suddenly realized what he had just said with his stupid traitorous—well not traitorous but—stupid mouth.

“I…yeah,” Nico said, tugging at a rogue dark curl, and Will swore there was some color to his face. Will resisted the urge to smack himself with his own clipboard as he attempted to gather himself so he could put on the façade of smoothness.

“I just spent a few days in your company so I’m used to you. If you stay at camp everyone will get used to you too…or so I think,” Will explained as he palmed the back of his neck. “But I’m always going to be around, so, if you have any trouble settling in I want you to come to me. I know you don’t have a head counselor, so, I don’t mind filling in.”

There, Will thought to himself proudly. He was already doing a good job with the friend-and-confidante thing. Or at least he was trying his best, and that had to mean something. Maybe this was how Nico would come to trust him so much, and Will would help Nico until autumn and then Nico would feel confident enough to strike it out without as much help. That all seemed vaguely understandable to Will, and in the end, he would want to help Nico out anyways regardless of the dream. Will cared about Nico, and since Nico had asked Will to be his friend Will was going to give it his all.

_And if he wants more than friends?_

__

__

_Sh. Bad thoughts. Don’t think about it._

“Aren’t I a little old for you to be doing the head counselor thing,” Nico said, his face scrunched up distastefully.

“Cheeky,” Will said as he reached over to ruffle Nico’s hair automatically. Nico immediately shrunk away like a feral creature preparing for a strike. Will immediately detracted his fingers. “Ah…sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“No…no it’s…” Nico huffed, obviously annoyed at himself. “It’s instinct, mostly.” 

“No, I understand,” Will said as he let his hands drop to where Nico could see them. “Well, lunch is going to start soon. Want to walk with me?”

And so that was how Will and Nico ended up locking up the infirmary for the time being, and walking together towards the pavilion. Will waved hello and greeted the campers who all whizzed by him, while Nico hung back and watched the interactions. Will couldn’t bring himself to wave at Aphrodite Cabin, and especially Drew, who smugly smirked at him before sauntering with her group to get food. Will couldn’t help but wilt at that.

“You’ll win, especially if I’m on your team,” Nico said as if he were stating an outright fact.

“You do realize you can’t use your underworld-y powers right now, at least not without setting yourself back and possibly liquifying yourself.”

“I don’t need them. I’ve got skills,” Nico said as he glared off in the direction that Drew went towards the pavilion.

“I’m lucky that I have so many people who want to help me,” Will said with a chuckle. “Hopefully we give a half-way decent shot.”

Nico didn’t answer and for a moment Will didn’t think he would. Eventually though, he sighed.

“Dad—uh, Hades, he says something like that. That the most important thing is to…well…to try to do good,” Nico said slowly. “That’s the best that mortals can do anyways before they die. So, don’t beat yourself up. Gods know that I do that too much anyways.”

“You call Hades dad?” Will asked, half-curious and half-jealous.

“I bit my tongue,” Nico said with a flat expression.

“You are really _killing_ this motivational speaking thing, Nico. Really, you should consider doing it for a living,” Will said as he bumped shoulders with Nico di Angelo.

“This is why I don’t talk to people, they don’t take me seriously and they never listen to my advice,” Nico said more to the air than anyone else, and for a minute Will was actually worried that Nico was talking to Hades and that Nico’s father was going to pop out from behind a tree and agree with his son. However that didn’t happen, and by some strange cosmic joke, Nico and Will walked to the pavilion together as friends.

* * *

_“Hey kid,” Michael said, sitting next to him on the dock. Will sniffed, trying to hide his face from Michael. He had no clue how Michael had found him and he hadn’t thought he had made a scene earlier, but then again Michael always had that uncanny way of just knowing._

_“How did you find me?” Will asked quietly, letting his legs swing absently out in front of him. He had ditched his bright pink flip flops somewhere on the path, and didn’t know if he would be able to recover them, but at that moment that seemed like a little worry._

_“I have a radar in my head that tells me where all of you brats are,” Michael said with a straight face, and somehow Will managed to summon a wobbly smile in return._

_“No you don’t,” Will said with a half-hearted nudge of his elbow. Michael let himself be nudged, before knocking back into him playfully. Michael and Will just sat together in companionable silence for just a little longer, before Michael broke the news that Will had been dreading._

_“Silena saw you running off this way,” Michael told him, and when Will curled his legs under his chin Michael’s face got pinched. “Do you need me to beat someone up? Because I will, trust me, I will—“_

_“They started going out,” Will blurted out, his traitorous mouth running away from him._

_“What?” Michael said, blinking at Will before recognition dawned on him. Will felt himself redden at the scrutiny. “You had a crush on Silena?”_

_“No,” Will said before squeezing his eyes shut with all of his strength. “Well, I think she’s really pretty. But…no.”_

_“Then who—“ Michael started before letting out a harsh breath. “Beckendorf?”_

_Will summoned up all of his courage and nodded. Will wasn’t exactly sure of what he was expecting, however, when Michael clapped a hand on his shoulder and squeezed Will looked up in surprise. Michael’s expression was sympathetic._

_“You aren’t mad at me?” Will asked him slowly and unsure._

_“Mad at you? No way. Beckendorf’s a great guy. Everyone likes him, I can see why you’d get a crush on him,” Michael said with an approving nod. “Lee’s pretty broken up about it too. Though, I don’t think he’s figured out if he wants to steal Silena from Beckendorf or Beckendorf from Silena or try his luck with both.”_

_“What?” Will asked, his jaw almost unhinged from his head._

_“Us Apollo kids tend to have dad’s proclivities, though, I’m pretty sure I’m straight. But a lot of us are gay, or bisexual, or poly and whatnot. I’ve kind of suspected for a while,” Michael explained before giving Will a solid shake. “I’m proud of you, kid. That was brave.”_

_“I’m not brave, I was really scared,” Will admitted as he hiccupped, the floodgates open and tears rolling down his face, of both heartbreak and relief._

_“Being scared is part of being brave. If the thing you’re doing isn’t scary, then the actions you take aren’t being brave,” Michael said as he ruffled Will’s curls. “Thanks for telling me, Will.”_

_“Wait, Will, you had a crush on Beckendorf too!” Lee suddenly shouted from down the docks and both of them turned around to see their eldest brother nearly hurtling towards them. Lee nearly scooped Will up, who squawked as Lee spun him around. “Broken hearts club, wooo! Let’s eat all the junk food and then go shooting!”_

_“Lee, you mother—Will was having a moment! With me!” Michael shouted at him._

_“Yeah, without his biggest brother, little bro! And let me just say, William Solace, you have impeccable taste in men, also the ladies,” Lee said as he set Will down and put he put one hand on his shoulder and gave him a thumbs up with the other one. “I’m proud of—“_

_It was at that moment that Michael roundhouse kicked Lee into the lake. As Lee was half holding onto Will, Will ended up in the lake and by accident helped topple Michael on top of him. For a moment Will was under the water, before he was yanked up by his two older brothers. They all surfaced, and laughed._

_“Lee, you idiot,” Michael scoffed as he pulled himself up onto the dock, and helped Will and Lee up too. Michael shook his head like a dog, further spraying Lee with water._

_“Down, Fido,” Lee said before Michael puffed up._

_“You wanna fight?” Michael immediately dared._

_“If you can stand losing again, wanna settle this on the archery fields? What’s the score now? 6-5 me?” Lee said with a widening grin._

_“In your gods’ damned dreams!” Michael shouted back before whipping over to look at Will. “Get Kayla and Austin we are doing this right now!”_

_“Ah man,” Will sighed before giving a smile of his own and a laugh, the happiness inside him just waiting to burst out. “You guys are crazy.”_

_“You love us,” Lee said with a grin that Will knew he shared with him, placing an elbow on Michael’s head, causing Michael to nearly hiss at him—_

Will woke up cold. 

He registered first that it was still nighttime, as that little part of him which promised him sunrise was always correct. For a moment he lay staring up at the ceiling, before he realizing he must have kicked off his sheets during the night. Will turned over and couldn’t help but smile as he saw Antonio’s dark curls peeking out from the mound of blankets from the bed in the bunk across from him, Austin’s foot hanging from above. He attempted to gather up his blankets and settle back down, but at that moment his brain felt too raw.

Instead, to keep everyone from waking up at his tossing and turning, Will slipped from bed. He padded by the window, whispering a hello to Ivy the Common Ivy, Sally the Spider Plant, and Al the Aloe Vera plant. Will stopped to, as always, admire the bowls. Violet and Sammy (who was currently at a contemporary dance intensive in New York City) had painted them for him, and the sight of them made him smile. Will walked into the bathroom and turned on the light, blinking. He registered his own face for a moment. He looked tired, sure, but for some reason he kept looking. Will followed the familiar lines of his face, before realizing something.

Will was older. Soon he would be older than Lee and Michael would ever be.

Will turned on the water, let it run warm, before splashing his face and scrubbing his neck a bit. Just to let the warmth soothe that old hurt that was threatening to come up. His battle-wired instincts picked up the soft padding of feet coming towards him.

“Will? Are you okay?” Emma’s voice came soft and worried. He saw his little sister pop her head into the bathroom. She had washed out the dye yesterday, and so instead her hair was blonde, much like his, but perhaps a little sandier in tone. 

“I’m fine, don’t worry. Just…a dream, is all,” Will promised her with a weak smile. “It was a happy dream, but it made me sad too.”

“ _Ever drifting down the stream—Lingering in the golden gleam—Life, what is it but a dream?_ ” Emma offered her voice drawing power from the poem.

“Wordsworth?” Will offered and Emma grinned wickedly, with a snap she was once again his ordinary twelve-year-old sister. 

“Close, but no cigar. Lewis Carroll.”

“No fair, he’s a novelist.”

“And poet. Dear brother, open your mind and stop limiting yourself,” Emma said with a giggle before reaching up to squish his cheeks. “Has Capture the Flag stressed you out this much?

“I don’t know, maybe,” Will said meekly, pulling his sister’s fingers from where she was pinching his cheeks.

“You don’t have to go through with anything if you don’t want to,” Emma reminded him, far wiser than her years should have allowed. But then again, young kids always saw things clearly.

“I appreciate it…but I think Clarisse’s a little bit too pumped for me to back out now. I happen to like all my fingers and toes in working order,” Will said with a chuckle.

“Well, don’t worry too much. We’ll always have your back,” Emma said, sticking out her chest proudly, the motion reminding him so much of Michael that Will couldn’t help but smile fondly and reach out to pat her shoulder.

“I don’t know what I did to deserve all of you guys,” Will chuckled in return.

* * *

It was a cool morning, and with Camp Half Blood officially out of combat-mode, regular scheduled camp activities could once again ensue. That morning, Apollo Cabin was with Iris Cabin, and Demeter Cabin for Pegasus riding. So after breakfast, Will gathered up his siblings and brought them all over to the stables.

Personally, Will didn’t mind mucking out the stables and brushing the pegasi. Will had used to help at a local veterinarian clinic when he was a kid (and before he found out said veterinarian was actually a satyr and he was actually a demigod), and he had grown up around plenty of farm animals on his Papa’s homestead. Though some of his siblings grumbled about the work, they were with some fairly good cabins, which really made the difference when it came to working with the creatures. Demeter Cabin tended to not care about getting dirty, and Iris Cabin had unofficially adopted the activity as theirs since Butch Walker was basically the top equestrian in the camp (besides Percy Jackson, but bring that up to Butch and one would get a speech about how Percy didn’t count because his dad gave him a cheat code with Jedi-Mind-Tricking horses). Will knew how a bad day at the Pegasus Riding Activity could be fraught with more terror then any lava wall, so for once he was glad his luck seemed to be changing.

“Hey Will,” Katie said, her sister Miranda at her side. At the moment Miranda was trailing her fingers over hay, and the hay seemingly moved like the fur of a contented creature, it was sort of dizzying so Will tried not to look to close.

“Chosen a side for Capture the Flag yet?” Will asked hopefully, and Miranda allowed the rejuvenated hay to be thrown into Spirit’s pen. The appreciative pegasi stuck her head out and gave a neigh and began to munch. Soon enough Blackjack and his buddies Guido and Porkpie were all sticking their necks out looking for food, to which the Demeter kids obliged, Miranda walking off to join her sisters and brother with a wave while Katie and Will talked. During the summer, Katie was the head counselor of Demeter Cabin, since during the year she went back to school. Will would’ve liked Miranda—the year round counselor—to listen in, but Billie seemed to have drawn her attention but spitting sunflower seeds and making them sprout to the delight of the littlest siblings of all three cabins and Miranda’s chagrin. 

“Not yet, though, Piper’s offer of Lush bathbombs is enticing though,” Katie said good-naturedly, tucking a stray lock of blonde hair behind her ear. Katie was very pretty, in the soothing natural kind of way, with deep set dark eyes and pretty hair always kept in French braids that did that thing where it looked like it was about to come out but didn’t. It was some magic that girls had, and that Will couldn’t reproduce when he braided his sister’s hair. 

“What? Katie—no! I know Piper’s far better looking than me, and is also offering you great bath products that I am personally jealous of, but you can’t join her team!” Will insisted urgently as Spirit the Pegasus, obviously taking his side of this whole debacle, reaching out to try to gnaw on his hair. He gently nudged her head back.

“Well another reason is that the Stolls are on your team right now, right?”

“No, you have to join my team because…because…because Ares Cabin is on my team! And Miranda likes Sherman—“

“Shhhhhh!” Katie gasped, nearly shoving her hand in Will’s mouth. “What in Hades is wrong with you, Will Solace! You don’t just blurt something like that out!”

“I think there are a few things,” Butch offered from where he petted Blackjack’s nose. Even if Will couldn’t speak horse—or flying horse, Will would put money on the fact that Blackjack’s snort meant, ‘what a freaking idiot’. 

“I’m grasping for straws here guys. Come on, please?”

“No dice, Solace,” Butch said with a shrug, before rubbing his shaved head. “Iris is with Aphrodite Cabin. Everyone knows that Percy Jackson has won almost every Capture the Flag match he has been in since he got here. I’d rather my cabin get out without being waterlogged or electrocuted—or worse, both.”

“The man makes a solid point point,” Katie told Will.

“Nico di Angelo is on my team, he’ll be killing plants left and right if he gets ticked off. We all saw him do that before. That is…if you don’t stop him?”

Will’s last statement came out more like a question. Katie looked at him hard, and Will resisted the urge to shrink back. Really, he wasn’t great with confrontation. He liked to let other people handle the drama, while he tended to things behind the scenes. But he couldn’t get out of this one, and finally Katie blinked and sighed. 

“You sneaky…” Katie said with a half-amused, half-ticked off look. She offered her hand and Will clasped it. “Alright, fine. Demeter Cabin is with Apollo, for the plants…and for Miranda. Maybe we can get Sherman and Miranda to be alone with their feelings for a while.”

“I’ll do my best,” Will promised with a grin.

“But only if you let me take a look at your plants,” Katie said very seriously. “And you send some people over to help in the medicinal section of our garden.”

“Okay, okay. I promise.”

“Well at least—uuuuh, holy hollering harpies is that _Nico di Angelo_? Walking to the stables? With live pegasi in them? Right in front of my eyes?” Butch suddenly blurted out his voice climbing a few dozen octaves, and both Katie and Will turned to see what he was talking about. In his mind, Will was already categorizing what sort poisonous plants Butch had to have been smoking to come up with such a ridiculous thing.

But there he was, Nico di Angelo looking very ruffled and unhappy as he marched himself up to the three head counselors as their siblings began hitching up the pegasi to their reigns. He promptly crossed his arms over his chest as he presented himself, bad attitude and all, to the three of them.

“Chiron told me that I needed to go to camp activities,” Nico spat out the phrase as if it had personally insulted him, his sister, and his dog.

“You were in the mood for this particular camp activity?” Will asked in surprise. Nico just looked at him as if Will had literally gone crazy.

“What do you think?”

“Based on your expression, I’m going to say a solid no. Uh…so then why are you here?”

Nico just gave the three head counselors a long-suffering look before sighing and gearing to fess up.

“I…if I’m just going to bother you I’ll go away but...Chiron isn’t going to let me wander around alone and…and I can’t stand being with Percy and Annabeth and Jason and Piper. They are all embarrassing, and I feel awkward and—“ Nico just looked at Will tiredly. The poor kid looked like he hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep, and Will was right there with him. “And…I didn’t think you’d mind.” 

“I don’t mind,” Will said automatically.

“I mind, you freak out the pegasi!” Butch accused.

“Wanna fight?” Nico demanded, squaring up immediately, his jaw clenched and his eyes flashing.

“No, let’s not fight. That’s not what we should be doing right now by a long shot,” Katie said firmly, trying to deescalate the situation. However, apparently neither Butch or Nico were getting the memo.

“He can’t fly the pegasi!” Butch said jabbing a finger at Nico. Nico just turned to Will slowly, in his eyes he saw the dark flames of the underworld and the half-cracked madness of his dad and the sudden resemblance was something to behold.

“Give me the gods-damned reigns of one of the freaking pigeon ponies,” Nico growled, almost rumbling with rage. Spite was a good look on him and a motivating force, Will thought feeling terrified and attracted, and pretty dang petrified.

“Uh, Kayla and Austin are hitching up Spirit. I’ll be there in a second,” Will said, pointing over to the dun mare pegasus who was currently grazing by their feet, continuing to look up once in a while at Nico as if coolly assessing him. Nico walked over to them and Will whirled around to Butch and Katie and hissed at Butch, “what in the name of the gods were you thinking? Telling Nico di Angelo what not to do is like, the worst idea!”

“No, Nico-kills-everything-he-touches getting on one of my pegasi is the worst idea!” Butch hissed back. “He is startling! Horses don’t do good with startling!”

“Both of you, work it out!” Katie said as she flailed her arms before storming off to join her siblings. 

“I won’t let him run the horse into the ground…or the underworld or anything. Promise!” Will told him.

“I’m watching you,” Butch said with a corresponding gesture before going over to where Blackjack was strutting proudly with Butch’s siblings as if he were on a New York Fashion Week runway. Feeling suddenly frantic, Will sprinted over, only to find Violet had sat herself on Spirit’s back. She looked at Nico, and Nico stared back up at her.

“You can ride with me,” the seven-year-old announced boldly as she stroked Spirit’s mane. “Spirit and I are friends and I want you to be friends with Spirit too, and Will and Spirit’s friends can lead us!”

“I’m…I’m not…I—“ Nico spluttered, face a shade of red. Suddenly Violet’s eyes went wide and wet.

“You don’t want to ride with me?” Violet asked softly. Will’s rational brain went sailing away.

“Get on the pegasus,” Will suddenly found himself ordering, Nico was outwardly staring at him.

“But…”

“Just do it.”

As if sensing a horrible fate awaiting her, Spirit side stepped initially as Nico tried to get on. However with Violet’s gentle shushing, and Kayla’s hand at Spirit’s side, the first hurdle was passed and Nico was on top of a live Pegasus with Will’s littlest sister. 

However, immediately after that, things went totally awry. Porkpie and Guido trotted up ahead, taking a graceful leap and beginning to soar with two campers each. Cash the Pegasus trotted next to Spirit and with one look at Nico gave a startled screech and began tearing ahead, which subsequently spooked Spirit who began a breakneck climb and buck strategy, suddenly diving in the air like a bird looking to snatch fish from a lake. With a scream from both Violet and Nico, suddenly they were out of the saddle and sailing through the air.

With a swear, Katie threw out her arm, and Will jumped in front.

Suddenly Will was laying in a huge pile of hay that had gotten loose from its boxes, underneath a very comfortable weight. Will looked up at the same time that Nico di Angelo did, eyes met, electricity making his hair stand on end because close—way too close—and subsequently his face burst into heat. Nico scrambled off, and Will looked over and breathed a sigh of relief as Violet bounced on top of Katie excitedly.

“See! I told you it was a bad idea!” Butch shouted as he landed Blackjack and attempted to calm down Spirit.

“No harm no foul,” Will shouted back before groaning. His arm and shoulder were definitely sore, probably sprained from grabbing Nico at such a fast momentum. Will went into his fanny pack and pulled out his square of ambrosia and broke off a piece, looking at how Katie was rubbing her back Will snapped a piece for her too which she accepted gratefully. Will looked over at Nico who was currently making a completely unreadable expression as he stood apart from the others, his jaw working, and Will could see the seedling of doubt being born and Will reached—

“Nico! That was awesome! Do you see how far you flew!” Austin said with a wide grin, rushing up to Nico with Will’s gaggle of siblings.

“What?” Nico said slowly, not meeting Antonio’s hanging high-five. Antonio quickly transitioned it to a wave, to which Emma giggled into her palm.

“Crazy stuff, but you grabbed Violet so she didn’t fly too far. Fast thinking,” Kayla said as she nudged Nico in the ribs. “Alright, I admit it, it was pretty hero-y.”

“I want to do it again,” Violet said very seriously.

“No,” everyone said in unison, and Violet pouted.

“You aren’t mad?” Nico asked, more to Will then to anyone. “I mean…your sister—“

“I said, no harm no foul. That applies to you too,” Will said, rolling his much better feeling shoulder and arm. “This is Camp Halfblood, horrible decisions get made every day. That’s part of the gig. Violet, next time I think we’re going to let Nico just watch for a bit before letting him go. Spirit needs to get used to him on the ground. You guys all go ride, I’m going to chill with Nico and get him caught up.”

“Caught up?” Nico asked before staring at Will. “Next time?”

“You need a cabin to go to activities with right? Welcome, Nico di Angelo. You’re now an honorary member of Cabin Seven. Prepare yourself mentally, after this we have Arts and Crafts with Ares Cabin. Ergo, you are stuck with me.”

“Oh, great.” 

Nico turned away, but Will would bet five gold drachmas that he was hiding a smile.


	8. Capture the Flag (And My Heart)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Well, since starting anything with Nico di Angelo obviously isn’t going to go anywhere, and I had no idea why, I…I guess I’m just not going to go for it. If I tried it would be a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Will said as he waved off Cecil. “I mean, how hard could not falling for one boy be?”
> 
> In the aftermath of the battle Will has a strange dream, one that seems to predict his heart being broken by Nico di Angelo. The only problem being, Will has only really talked to him once. Will makes up his mind then and there that falling in love with a boy that will only end up breaking his heart is the last thing he will do. Or so he hopes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s finally here, chapter eight of BMH! The long awaited Capture the Flag showdown, and not only that, but romantic progression! Hurray! I wanted to get this done before I go on vacation lol. Also, side note, this is about half way through the fic! 
> 
> Enjoy!

“I’m telling you, all you’ve got to do is let me handle this,” Clarisse said as she stabbed their second map with her second knife. Chiara from Tyche cabin groaned as she went about looking for another one. “Me and my cabin could beat that motley crew in their sleep.”

“Oh yeah, Clarisse? Really? Is it really that easy for you?” Conner asked her in a sing-songy tone as Cecil and some of his brothers and sisters cackled behind them. That immediately had Sherman Yang and Ellis Wakefield on them.

“Listen up!” Lou Ellen said as she stepped over Clovis’ sleeping bag from where it jutted out from underneath the table while Julia from Hermes Cabin kept poking him with a yard stick in time with snores. “Demeter, Hecate, and Hypnos cabin are down with the plan that has us creating diversions. But we need to know where we are going to place the bulk of our forces.” 

“Mashed…potatoes…” Clovis added from his dreams underneath the table.

“Uh…yeah, what Clovis said,” Miranda said as she cast a helpless look to Katie who was currently face-palming and shaking her head so adamantly that Will was sure he was going to need to check her for a concussion. Will helped spread their third map onto the table with Chiara’s help.

“The counselors and longtime members of CHB are pretty familiar with all the routes, so we’re going to need to rely heavily on our senior campers,” Will said to the crowd. “Offense teams, no matter what happens, make sure you keep all of the members of your squad together and protect the camper to your left. Violet, what’s the name of this technique?”

“Phalanx!” Violet chirped. “Like what Chiron taught us!”

“Good,” Will said. “The other team is big and brash and if we can make them run into us, what do we do?”

“Fake retreat, regroup, and then ambush!” called back the rest of his cabin, like any proper Grecian chorus.

“Ambuscade,” Will said before giving a nod of pride. “Good work.”

“The only problem is what the best routes are going to be,” noted Clarisse gruffly. “We’re going to need to be mostly responding, so it would be good to know what they are planning.”

“As far as I can see there are two main strategies that they could try,” Nico said as he tapped the map thoughtfully. He had been hanging back and observing the controlled chaos, but to Will’s surprise he finally decided to speak up. “They are either going to put Percy on defense and Jason on offense, or use both Percy and Jason on offense”

“What makes you say that?” Katie asked curiously.

“Well, they both have the most devastating attacks. But Percy, though he is a great swordsman, is going to be the most powerful by the river. And the river cuts the forest through the middle, so he could theoretically lead the charge to the river or stay there independently as the first line of defense. Jason can fly and is powerful anywhere so he’ll be offense, Annabeth won’t waste that. She might do a number of different other things with her team, but it’ll be based around those two.”

“Iris cabin,” Lou Ellen suddenly burst out before giving a rueful grin. “They were working on a watch with a prism in it that can put off a rainbow. They can use it for short distance communication.”

“Jason will fly and scout, and give Annabeth intel so that they can move their team,” Travis said with an appreciative nod. “What do we do in response?”

The rest of the meeting was spent cobbling together some kind of strategy. It was almost nice, Will thought, as Clarisse threatened Travis’ life with a sharpened #2 pencil. It had been a while since they had a Capture the Flag, and though he knew he might regret it, seeing everyone pumped up for a game was so much nicer then coming up with actual battle strategies (like the ones they had desperately tried to come up with in the face of the insurmountable armies of the Roman Legion). After their planning session everyone went their separate ways, to attempt to get some sleep before the big day.

“Make sure you get some shut eye,” Cecil told him as he ruffled his hair, ducking away as Well attempted to swat at him. 

“I’ll try, you too,” Will said before looking to Lou Ellen. “Don’t stay up to late, okay?”

“We’ll try.”

Will turned to walk towards his cabin, thinking about strategies and another pressing issue he was having—

“Will?”

Will jumped and whirled around, seeing Nico standing behind him. His heart was pounding in his ears and he clutched his chest as he attempted to gather himself.

“Holy Hera, Nico! Don’t just sneak up behind me,” Will said as he tried to speak over his racing pulse.

“Sorry, I’ve been told I sort of disappear in the dark,” Nico said absently before shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans and slouching into his black hoodie which was about two sizes too big. “I just wanted to talk to you, about tomorrow?”

“What about tomorrow?” Will asked him.

“I want to stay with you—”

—Will rocked back on his heels. Will’s brain immediately was set to Full Fantasy Frequency and took Nico’s words and applied them ten million different ways including Nico saying that to Will while they were gliding through the sky on a magic carpet singing Disney showtunes—

“—during the game.” Nico qualified. Will wasn’t sure if felt disappointed or relieved, but definitely only one of those feelings was appropriate for the being-friends situation thing that was currently Will’s problem. Gods knew Will had been trying, but it was hard to know what lines he had to be wary of. He knew he shouldn’t even be wary of lines if Will really thought of Nico as only his friend and he was getting exhausted of it. 

“Oh? Why?” Will asked, trying to get back on track.

“Well, all of the Seven who were on the quest besides me who remain at Camp Half-Blood are on Team Aphrodite,” Nico explained, and as he explained Will suddenly felt silly for putting on such a childish filter over his thoughts of him. Standing next to Will, Nico was suddenly gaining a height and purpose he hadn’t seen out of the generally morose Nico since the battle. Here was a prince and a general and a warrior wrapped in one, why would Nico be worried about Will in the way Will was about Nico when he was so obviously out of Will’s league? “Though you’ve seemed to have forgotten, Piper is an accomplished warrior and strategist in her own right. Though Annabeth is surely helping her, Piper will be in charge of this group, and beside her is Drew who has a grudge and charmspeak. There’ll be people after you in this game. It’ll be best if I stay with you.”

“Even though you can’t use your powers? You still want to guard me?” Will asked, feeling oddly touched by the display of concern.

“Don’t go mushy on me, Solace. I’m just doing my duty as a member of this team to make sure that we don’t get our collective butts kicked,” Nico said as he waved him off. “Besides, who knows, maybe Percy and Jason will end up fighting each other and won’t even come near you.”

“Yeah, what is that about? Their bro-ness tends to be off the charts but put them in an arena and they are at each other’s throats.”

“It’s a Big Three thing,” Nico said vaguely.

“You don’t ever seem like you want to butt heads with them. Neither does Hazel, if I remember right,” Will pointed out to Nico as they walked together. Nico just heaved a heavy sigh as if he were deep in thought.

“It’s hard to explain…but sometimes they annoy me so much I want to stab them through the eye socket with an icepick until I can toast their brains _en brochette_ ,” Nico said as he swatted at a few stray curls as if they were bothersome thoughts before turning his attention to Will. “Is that normal?”

“I mean…are you asking me if homicidal tendencies are normal because boy howdy I have something to tell you—“

“Anyways,” Nico said, cutting him off. “It’s hard to explain, but it’s like, a calling in your blood…deeper than that, like it’s hardwired in your nature. I personally…usually…sometimes have nothing against Percy and Jason, but because of our dads and their histories it’s like written into us to be antagonistic to each other. Usually I can control it, obviously because I’m better then them in every conceivable way, but I’m also used to thinking of my nature as destructive so…”

“Hey,” Will said, stopping him and grabbing his arm. “Don’t.”

“What?” Nico asked him, caught off guard, staring between Will and his hand as if he couldn’t quite believe that wither were in front of him.

“Don’t think of yourself as destructive. You aren’t.”

“Will, seriously,” Nico asked with a laugh that was hard and bitter, shrugging off Will’s touch easily. “You don’t know the half of it.”

“Well just know that I don’t think that’s true. I’ll never think that about you,” Will promised him firmly. “No matter what.”

“I think you are the only person who would ever think that way about a son of Hades,” Nico said he brushed past Will and walked ahead of him. He sounded utterly incredulous, and Will just smiled and knotted his hands behind his head.

“I don’t mind if I am. I’m contrary like that,” Will said with a smile, that he hoped Nico felt. Will wasn’t sure he did as they walked in their own directions.

* * *

“INCOMING!!”

Billie Ng managed to get a oak tree to flip up a branch in order to reflect an oncoming cannonball that was filled with Nemesis Cabin specialty Revenge Mix, which was essentially what happened when you put a pungent combination of herbs, rotten eggs, BO, and regret in a blender. All five of their party mostly managed to get out of the way with a well-placed dive, but all of them looked up to the sky as if it held more danger then could be conceivably imagined.

“What the hell does everyone have against cilantro,” Nico said with a disgusted shake of his head as they walked forward.

“It taste like dish soap!” Cecil said in reply before groaning and rubbing his shoe into the ground. “I think some of it got on my shoes.”

Chiara, who of course, luckily was upwind from the scent pressed on muttering things in both English and Italian about the horrible things she was going to do to Damien White when she got her very well-manicured fingers on him. Nico snorted in appreciation of Ciara’s obviously colorful vocabulary.

The game was mostly at a standstill. Hecate, Demeter, and Hypnos cabin had done a fantastic job of creating a confusing labyrinth of mist and plants for anyone attempting to get their flag. However, it had almost worked too well. According to Travis, who had been set free by Ellis before Ellis had been taken down kicking and screaming by Sebastian with a flame thrower and nail polish remover, they had figured out their regroup-and-proceed strategy and instead decided to pull out Harley’s catapults and begin a siege to wear out the magic users. Percy was guarding the river and was fending off their main forces with Athena and Nike warriors, while Jason was seemingly spotting for the catapults.

Currently Will and his mishmashed group of demigods were attempting to sneak to the jail where most of the Ares Cabin were now probably seething in captivity. They had unfortunately broken off from formation and gone after Percy full bore, leaving most of them water logged and unarmed. Release Ares, and go for a full attack on the flag was the plan at the moment. It wasn’t necessarily a great plan, but it was a plan nonetheless and they were committed it.

“I’m really not looking forward to the infirmary after this,” Will muttered mostly to himself as he looked at the general chaos ahead of them. “It’s going to be crazy.”

“Hey, at least it can’t get any worse. Probably,” Cecil pointed out to him. “And I feel comfortable saying that because Chiara’s here and she’s basically a lucky charm. Except minus the rainbow marshmallows.”

“Please, spare me. As if I haven’t heard one before,” Chiara grumbled under her breath.

They made it over the ridge and had a fairly decent view of the jail below. Will couldn’t help but grimace. There was Paolo Montes next to Drew, who was obviously attempt to flirt with Paolo (though who knew how much was getting through the language barrier). Heather from Iris Cabin was playing with a knife and was standing next to Valentina who kept sneaking glances towards Paolo and Drew while Damian seethed and barked responses to the insults that Clarisse and the crew were yelling at him.

“I could pop into the shadow and kill them,” Nico offered.

“No, you don’t,” Will hissed.

“Yeah, dude. You would get no dessert for a whole week,” Cecil said with a shake of his head.

“There’s something wrong with you guys,” Billie said with a groan. Will watched as Damien reached over to wrap his arm around Valentina’s waist--

“ _DAMIEN YOU SON OF A CYCLOPS GET OVER HERE I’M GOING TO MURDER YOU!_ ” Chiara screamed before sliding down the ridge and running with sword raised. Heather went running. Damien went stark white and Valentina screamed as Ares kids hollered in appreciation of Chiara’s murderous intent.

“IMPROVISE!” Cecil shouted in response, sliding in behind her and throwing a smoke bomb.

“I hate all of your friends!” Nico snapped at Will as he pulled out the steel sword he was carrying before jumping down to join the fray. Billie’s hand went out and Lacey screamed as suddenly a maple tree decided to grab her by the roots.

Will stood up and aimed his bow, almost at the very moment that Drew whirled around to look at him. Will wasn’t great at the bow, unlike Kayla or some of his older siblings he didn’t have the gift. But there was something to be said about general aiming. His arrow went flying and hit Drew’s armor with a loud thump, sending her flying back on her butt. Immediately after she was sent toppling over again when Valentina got slapped so hard by Chiara that she went flying and tripping over Drew.

Nico was currently parrying Damien, until suddenly Nico disarmed Damien and sent him flying. Paolo was screaming as a bush began spitting prickers at him while Billie Ng kept Lacy up in the tree, and Cecil reached out his leg to trip him and sent him into a tree trunk.

“Will watch out!” Sherman Yang yelled and Will whirled around only to see Drew lunging at him with a dagger raised--

Nico, in one fluid motion, got in front of Will, pulled back his fist, and punched Drew in the face. There was a crack and Drew’s head snapped back as she fell back on the ground hard. Blood spurted out from Drew’s face as she numbly held up her hand to it.

“He just broke my nose!” Drew screamed. “You just broke my nose!”

“Gods-damned right I did,” Nico told her as he shook out his hand before holding up his fist. “Want to try that sneak attack again? Because trust me, there are plenty of other things I can break in your face and I would be pleased to give you another demonstration.” 

“Damn, di Angelo. Nice work!” Clarisse said as she and the Ares kids got out of the jail. Will bent by Drew with his first aid pack and pulled out a wad of gauze after putting on gloves. Drew glared at him from over watering eyes, and if she could she would have turned her nose up at him.

“Drew, come on,” Will told her, continuing to hold out the gauze.

“He broke my nose.”

“Well, you also tried to stab me.”

“Because you shot an arrow at me!”

“Due to the fact you did something shitty to me by going out with me just to break my heart and we’re in the middle of a CTF match. I think we’re even now,” Will said with a sigh. “Now, will you let me stop the bleeding?”

Drew frowned, but conceded, and staunched the bleeding as Will gently eased bone back and gave a soothing wash of power to begin clotting and healing. Will pulled off his gloves and put them in his little trash bag.

“You’re stupidly nice,” Drew huffed. “To the point that it disgusts me.”

“Someone needs to be,” Will said as he helped Drew up. Will cast a look over to where Ares Cabin was directing some of his group members on how to bring the new prisoners back to their own jail. Nico met Will’s gaze, gave a glare to Drew, before returning to guard the exchange.

“If I didn’t hate him, I would understand why you find him attractive,” Drew said with Will with a sidelong look.

“I do not—” Will said with a suck in of air.

“Oh please, Nico di Angelo is hot. Not as hot as me though no one is hotter than me but, he’s hot. If you’re into MySpace circa 2006 aesthetics,” Drew said with a flip of her hair.

“You’ve got blood all over your face,” Will pointed out.

“And I’m still hotter than everyone else here, what’s your point?”

“Go get checked for a concussion, Drew,” Will told her with a scoff.

“Whatever, Solace, whatever. But take some advice from me? It won’t be long until everyone else realizes that di Angelo’s a little hottie when they stop being spooked by him. You might want to make that move you’ve been wanting to make,” Drew said as she sauntered off to join the other prisoners.

_What?_

Move? What move? Will wanted to make a move? No he certainly did not want to make a move! Will thought as his mind raced. He didn’t want to make a move. Not when Nico moved in front of him to protect him, not when Nico showed his shy smile, not when he revealed his weird sense of humor, not when the weight of Nico was on top of him the hay pile and the scent of his shampoo was seared in his brain, not when his “I want to stay with you” that made his heart do funny flips.

Aw, Hades! Hades, Hades, Hades! He totally did want to make a move! Will was totally falling in love with Nico like some kind of idiot, even though he already knew it was going to end on a dock in the fall with his heart broken! How could he let that happen—?

“OH MY GODS HELP!” came a scream that sounded very close, as did the sound of lightning striking and a sudden explosion.

“Don’t let her get away!” Annabeth Chase’s voice came.

“Alice!” Cecil gasped and suddenly veered towards the direction of the noise. Everyone was moving before any more questions could be asked, and they burst out on a trail as Alice Miyazawa sprinted with the red flag. Jason was flying above as Annabeth and the main Athena force was shouting and on her tail, along with Nyssa who was on Jake Mason’s back as she kept firing Greek Fire with what looked like a grenade launcher.

“Alice, pass!” Will shouted she slapped the flag in his hand he turn and ran before casting one final glance back. “Clarisse!”

“On it! Ares Cabin, to me! di Angelo, go with Solace!” Clarisse barked out as she held up her spear.

There was the sound of chaos behind them but Will didn’t look as he sprinted ahead. Nico kept up with him mostly, huffing. They tore through the forest together, however when they burst out by the river Will gasped as suddenly Nico pulled him over by the shirt hard. A wave smashed and receded, and Percy Jackson grinned and waved.

“Hey guys! Sorry, but I can’t let you past!” Percy said as he uncapped Riptide and gave a bright excited grin. “Otherwise Annabeth would kill me.”

“Oh don’t worry, I’ll save something for her,” Nico said with a savage looking smirk as he unsheathed his sword. “Will, stay behind me.”

“How about no way,” Will said as he threw a throwing knife he kept in his pack. Will was majorly off, but Percy still yelped and ducked, and Nico charged forward to take advantage of Percy’s surprise. Their swords clashed so hard that sparks bounced across the edge. Percy pushed Nico back on the ground with his superior strength, but before he could jab him Nico rolled and kicked at Percy’s legs. Nico was up to meet, one, two more hits as Will slide across the mud and--

Will yelped as suddenly Nico’s leg roundhouse kicked him. Will was sent sliding across the rocks and half way through the river. Percy swore and Will felt the water attempt to drag him back, but then suddenly the water let go. Will hurtled over the edge with the momentum, and cleared the side of the water.

Will looked up in shock, as did Nico who was currently pinning Percy underneath him, as he must have slide tackled him. Both of them were covered in mud, and Percy gave a defeated sigh as attempted to shake his mud covered hair out of his face.

“Gods damn it, there goes my blue M&Ms.” 

The horn blew and Chiron appeared and grinned right at Will. 

“Winner, Team Apollo!”

* * *

As Will had predicted, the infirmary was full after the rather rough game of Capture the Flag. Paolo needed to get prickers pulled out of a good portion of his skin, Clovis had some major bruising after he had been unceremoniously tossed out of his hammock by the Victor siblings, Pollux who had been with Aphrodite Cabin had gotten pretty badly burned by a splash of fire, Harley had broken his leg after tripping over Clovis and falling down a ditch, Kayla had gotten jabbed in the leg by a spear, and Piper was currently laying in a bed after getting body checked by Clarisse and having her arm and clavicle smashed. And that was all besides the minor bumps, bruises, and scrapes that needed tending. 

“Quite the game,” Piper said, looking uncharacteristically pale. Jason sat by her bed, as immovable as a stone statue as he had been since Will had put the bones back in place.

“If I had been there…” Jason murmured but Piper shook her head gingerly.

“It’s okay, it’s the name of the game,” Piper said before swallowing. “Though I’m certainly not feeling good.”

“Nectar and ambrosia,” Will said as he gave the measured amounts to her. Jason lifted both for her to take sips and bites. “Let me see?”

Piper slowly offered her arm and Will went about his healing as he usually did. He kept it light and brief because he knew he needed to conserve. He helped bones begin to mend alongside the food and the drink of the Gods. After he did so and pulled away, Piper’s face had some color to it and she didn’t look like she was about to vomit.

“I can give you a sling and you can go, or feel free to rest here,” Will told her.

“I’ll take a sling and empty out the bed,” Piper said as Will helped her get into it.

“Is there anything I should do?” Jason asked fretfully.

“Just breathe,” Piper said with an impossibly sweet smile, that seemingly melted Jason like a freezepop in the Texas heat. She took Jason’s hand and Will’s aid, and suddenly leaned over. Piper’s eyes caught his, shifting in a margin between green and grey. “You might want to give Nico some attention, he’s looking kind of lonely.”

Will tried to splutter out a response, but it didn’t come as Piper breezed out with a laugh (followed by a clueless but bemused Jason Grace). Will looked over, his cheeks warm, only to find a freshly bathed Nico standing awkwardly.

“I’m here...since you said you could sometimes use help here, I figured now might be good,” Nico said quietly.

“Now is absolutely good, Nico,” Will told him. “Come with me?”

Nico followed him dutifully to where Kayla was laying on her side, while Violet and Emma snickered over the stitches they were doing. With a flick both of his siblings went to attend to other things, while Kayla just frowned at him.

“I’m fine!” Kayla said and Will just rolled his eyes.

“Nico do me a favor and hold the gauze against where the stitches are so I can wrap this?”

“Sure,” Nico said before doing just as well said, ignoring Kayla’s complaints that his “hands were too cold”. Will worked on wrapping Kayla’s leg with practiced motions.

“I never thanked you, you basically won us the match,” Will pointed out as he saddled next to Nico.

“No, that was you,” Nico said, keeping his gaze down.

If he looks up, I’ll give it a chance, Will promised himself. If there’s really something there worth changing fate about, I’ll try.

Will’s fingers brushed against Nico’s and Nico looked up, eyes wide. Their gazes held and Will swore there was electricity moving in the air between them, so much so that Will had the desire to go ask if Jason was still in the room. Will swallowed heavily around his heart in his throat before saying,

“Uh, move your hand?”

Nico jerked, looking flushed and slightly embarrassed and Will finished up without any of the practiced grace. Will offered Nico a small smile, one that Nico reflected.

“Idiots,” Kayla huffed as she lay down heavily.


	9. Next Level Sleep Walking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Well, since starting anything with Nico di Angelo obviously isn’t going to go anywhere, and I had no idea why, I…I guess I’m just not going to go for it. If I tried it would be a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Will said as he waved off Cecil. “I mean, how hard could not falling for one boy be?”
> 
> In the aftermath of the battle Will has a strange dream, one that seems to predict his heart being broken by Nico di Angelo. The only problem being, Will has only really talked to him once. Will makes up his mind then and there that falling in love with a boy that will only end up breaking his heart is the last thing he will do. Or so he hopes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s time again, for another installment of Break My Heart! This just in: ROMANTIC PROGRESSION! Also body mutilation. But what’s any activity at Camp Half-Blood without any danger, am I right?
> 
> Enjoy!

“Okay…so…I might have definitely lied,” Will admitted awkwardly. It was after Arts and Crafts, and as head counselors both he and Lou Ellen had stayed behind to help clean up. It was good because Will really wanted to talk to his friend without any of his siblings eavesdropping, and if there was anything that made them scarce it was the idea of cleaning up after themselves.

“About what?” Lou Ellen asked as she looked up from brushing uncooked-red-painted macaroni into the dust pan.

“I have a crush on Nico I think,” Will said as he palmed the back of his neck sheepishly. 

“I already knew that you are a dumbass,” Lou Ellen scoffed as she dumped the dust and the discarded pasta in the trash can.

“Hey! I just admitted my feelings! That’s a big step for me alright?”

“You’ve been admitting your feelings every time you’ve looked at Nico for the past week. Gods, you are so dense,” Lou Ellen sighed heavily as she leaned against the broom. “Okay, okay. You like Nico. What are you going to do about it?”

“Um…I haven’t…really…worked out that part yet?”

“Oh Gods protect me,” Lou Ellen groaned as she face-palmed. “Will Solace, you are the biggest pain in the ass! Here’s what you do, ask the boy out on a date.”

“But I—”

“Nu-uh. No tip toeing around this. You, William Elijah Solace, will ask Nico di Angelo on a date. And preferably sooner rather than later. All of your awkward pining is making my hair frizz!” Lou Ellen said as she stroked down her hair in emphasis. 

“I am not awkward pining!” Will whined, probably very annoyingly.

“You are the definition of awkward, and you are pining. Awkward. Pining. You. Just bite the bullet and ask the boy out on a date!”

“But he’s going to dump me! Eventually? Maybe?” Will said, as he kicked a ball of crunched up newspaper. Will was suddenly yanked down by Lou Ellen, whose green eyes nearly burned into his with sheer determination.

“Well you know what? We are going to change your fate then. You will take Nico on the best first date ever, then everything will be great. So let’s just do it. Mama didn’t raise no quitters. Understand me?” 

“Okay, okay,” Will said as he put his hands up in surrender, before suddenly panic washed over him. “Oh my Gods, I’m going to ask Nico di Angelo on a date.”

“Everything will work out. Just wait and see, after all, what could possibly go wrong?”

“Lou Ellen, you do realize that people only say that before something horrible happens right?”

* * *

Cecil planted himself down next to Will with a huff while Will downed half a water bottle. Harley was excitedly talking to Chiron as campers began to set up the Three-Legged Race that was going to take place the next day. Will’s stomach was still doing funny flips ever since he decided he was going to ask Nico out on a date, however Cecil’s presence distracted him enough to keep him semi-concentrated on the task at hand.

“He’s a tricky guy,” Cecil said suddenly, forcing Will to really concentrate on what Cecil was actually saying instead of just hearing words being strung in meaningless sentences.

“What?”

“Nico di Angelo. You know that Hermes Cabin has poker nights, we usually sweep the floor with everyone. Nico came in first among the Non-Hermes circuit, you know, the thing we had to start doing after Malcom made a threat against Travis’s life? Anyways, he won like a hundred dollars.”

“How did Nico know about the poker night?”

“Annabeth brought him. I guess they’re friends now, which is nice. I mean, it always sucks when your crush gets with someone else, but it’s good they worked past the awkwardness,” Cecil said with an appreciative nod. Will almost corrected him before snapping his traitorous mouth shut. Right. Only a few people were privy to Nico’s sexuality.

Oh no, Will thought with a crippling wave of anxiety. What if Nico didn’t want to come out yet? A date with Will would definitely out him. What if—what if—?

No, Will thought sternly. Too late to turn back now, I’ve already made my decision. The worst he can say is no. And then I’ll just wallow for a few days before working past it and hope that Nico wouldn’t be awkward with me.

“Do you know where Nico is now? I need to…uh…ask him something?” Will asked Cecil.

“I think I saw him going to the training fields with Ares Cabin,” Cecil said in return, looking somewhat suspicious but not saying anything. Cecil followed Will as he made his way to the training arena and all the while Will did his best to try to stay calm. He was going to be cool, he was going to just go up to Nico and ask him if he wanted to—

Will saw Nico and almost fell on his own face.

Nico was currently in the middle of sword training, practicing blows on a dummy. More importantly he was doing it shirtless. He had obviously gained color in the sun, and Will saw wiry back muscles pulling and flexing and dark curls pulled back into a ponytail and—

“Will, you alright?” Cecil asked with a raised brow.

“Oh no, oh no,” Will suddenly blurted out, his face was on fire and quite possibly sizzling. “I can’t do this too gay—I mean today. I mean—”

“Uh, okay then dude,” Cecil said, looking as if he was ready to catch Will in case he was about to faint. “You wanna tell me what’s going on…?”

“Is there a shovel so I can bury myself?” Will asked him miserably with a groan at his own stupidity. “It’ll just take a quick second. After this all goes horribly that is.”

“I’ll get on that,” Cecil said as he tried to hide his amusement.

“Solace, Markowitz! What are you doing here?” Clarisse barked as she approached, dressed in full on combat gear. She looked between them, obviously somewhere between curiosity and wanting to skewer them for interrupting their practice.

“Sorry Clarisse. I just need to talk to Nico for a quick second,” Will apologized as he scooted to get as far away from the pointy spear she was holding as he could. “I’ll get out of your way right away.”

“I just tagged along,” Cecil chirped.

“Uh, Cecil…could you give me a minute too?” Will asked and Cecil stared at him.

“Wait you are going to leave me with—”

“ _Markowitz!_ ” Ellis’ shout came from the left, and he was holding a spear and looked half ready to use it. He smiled almost sweetly at Cecil, though it looked like he was about to pop a vein, which was the most terrifying thing that Will had ever seen. “We need to talk about my twenty bucks that you cheated off me last night.”

“Uh…we can talk if you drop the spear—?” Cecil half squeaked as he wheeled around to dive behind Will before Ellis grabbed him by the back of his shirt and dragged him away. “Will, help me!”

“I’ll never forget you!” Will called back to him, miming waving a handkerchief. Clarisse wiped a fake tear away for good dramatic measure. 

“SCREW YOU!”

“Well, anyways, I’m going to go see Nico,” Will said as he motioned with his head in the direction Nico was after Cecil’s cries had faded away. Clarisse nodded her assent and let him go.

Will finally got to where Nico was practicing, and suddenly was faced with the utter challenge of what he was about to do. How could he possibly convince Nico—

“Hey Will,” Nico greeted, unaware of Will’s internal drama. His expression was neutral but appeared relaxed, his eyes—the strange shade that they were, seemed warm at the very least. He had placed a towel over his shoulders and was currently half-chugging a Gatorade. Red Gatorade, which tinted his teeth with the color. It was kind of funny and cute, and Will couldn’t help but feel his mouth turn up in a smile despite everything. Nico, obviously noticing, gave Will a glare before snatching the water bottle next to the Gatorade and swishing with it with spite.

“Hey Nico,” Will said with a smile that felt rubbery with nerves before breathing in deeply. “I’ve…uh, got a question for you.”

“Oh,” Nico said with a blink. “Oh, you mean about the Three-Legged Race?”

“Yes—what?” Will asked suddenly, taken aback.

“I’ll be your partner for the Three-Legged Race,” Nico told him before looking over where Ellis and Cecil were currently having a shouting match. “I don’t think I trust Cecil to keep you alive, considering he has a few people who want him at least partially maimed.”

“I can keep myself alive,” Will argued weakly. Nico looked away somewhat, digging the heel of his boot into the ground.

“Well, I mean, sort of. Your skills of self-preservation are questionable,” Nico pointed out sarcastically before drawing in a breath and saying, “I thought it would be…well…we were a pretty good team during Capture the Flag weren’t we?”

“The best,” Will agreed quickly.

“People here are still a little wary of me, but, it might be fun if I was with you. At least it’ll be tolerable,” Nico said with an aristocratic sniff that did nothing to subtract from the sincerity of the thought.

“Sure, Nico. Let’s be partners,” Will agreed before really thinking about it. It took him a moment to realize as Nico waved and returned to training, that he had utterly flubbed what he had come there for.

* * *

“You were supposed to ask him on a date!” Lou Ellen hissed under her breath as they walked towards their cabins after the campfire.

“You were asking Nico on a date?” Cecil asked in surprise before shoving his hands into his pockets. “Alright, I’m only slightly less mad about getting stuck with Ellis in the Three-Legged Death Race now, where I’m definitely going to die. Thanks a lot for that Will, by the way. I really appreciate that”

“Hey, it wasn’t my fault that Chiron caught you and Ellis arguing,” Will told him with a sigh. “And I know that’s what I was supposed to do, but obviously now I’m on Plan B.”

“What is Plan B?” Lou Ellen asked him suspiciously.

“Improvise!” Will said with a wave of his arms before ducking into his cabin and shutting the door behind him. He leaned against it before groaning. When he opened his eyes, he saw all of his siblings staring at him. He cursed his luck as he watched wide grins crack across all of their faces.

“You’re asking Nico on a date?” Kayla demanded as she grabbed first punched him but then his hands and hopped up and down. “Oh my Gods, I knew it! I knew it! You do like Nico di Angelo you liar!”

“No, no, you guys didn’t hear anything!” Will told them all sternly before covering his ears with his hands. “Lalala I can hear no gloating—Antonio stop gloating! Austin, don’t give Emma money! I can’t believe you guys were betting on my love life!”

“I owe Lacey a drachma now,” Violet said petulantly as she punched a teddy bear for good measure.

“Gods you guys suck,” Will said as he stomped his way to his bed and sat down. He took out the bag of M&Ms he had stashed (that tragically had no more blue ones, those had all been donated to the Charity Case known as Percy Jackson). “And no, I didn’t ask Nico out on a date because I am utterly incapable of romance. I have no romantic bones in my body—Antonio, don’t even start with that pun I know you were about to make.”

Antonio pouted before sticking his tongue out at Will. Will made a face at him in return before leaning against his headboard, hoping they would allow him to wallow in self-pity for a few moments. As always his siblings had other ideas, and demanded that he relay them all of the information, which he did with the exception of telling them about the dream. He figured that was just one more thing on the plate that they didn’t need to know about. It was okay to keep somethings close to the chest after all. When he finished explaining everything he got his few moments of quiet before his siblings started up.

“Well isn’t this the best outcome imaginable?” Austin pointed out as he played with his saxophone. “You’re going to be alone with Nico. You’ll have an opportunity to ask him out at some point.”

“Do you even know me?” Will asked him suspiciously.

“Oh come on, Will. You’re a son of Apollo. You have to have some game in you,” Emma said with a hand on her hip.

“Ugh, do not compare me to Dad,” Will said with a shudder. “Since when is Dad’s record with lovers something to aspire to?”

“Well I’m just saying, there are plenty of people at camp who find you cute. Be confident! You can make it work!” Emma told him firmly. “Believe in yourself.”

“And don’t die tomorrow. That might also help you with asking Nico out on a date, that is,” Kayla reminded them.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence guys,” Will said as he fell over with a huff.

That night he had a bad dream that he couldn’t quite remember everything about. It had something to do with Nico di Angelo and a machete at a carnival with a half-pound of cotton candy and a jar of pennies. It was safe to say that he didn’t sleep well. He trudged through the day sleep deprived and not looking forward to the Three-Legged Death race.

“Hi Will!” Harley greeted as he approached the race track. Harley, the littlest member of Hephaestus Cabin, was bouncing on his heels.

“Hey Harley, I’m excited to see what you have in store for us,” Will promised him with a pat on his head. Harley beamed up at him.

“Oh yeah, it’s going to be great! Just you wait and see!” Harley said before bouncing off to say hi to some of the other younger kids.

“It’s good to see him happy,” Jake Mason commented with a sigh as he crossed his scarred but rather nice-looking arms. “He’s been really down since…you know, what happened to Leo. I think that’s the reason Chiron let him go all out and design this death trap.”

“Is he doing okay?” Will asked Jake, and Jake offered a weak smile.

“Holding up, just like the rest of us. It’s just hard…as you know.”

Will couldn’t help but frown sadly. He had only known Leo briefly, it had been his responsibility to show him around camp and they had been on friendly terms, but even so it didn’t do the heart good to see the way he went out. And it especially hurt him to see his longtime friends mourning the loss of their half-brother. As Will had learned, no matter what a demigod did in life, they often did not deserve the fates that were woven and cut for them.

“He’ll be back,” a voice cut in, and both Will and Jake were startled by Nico who was glaring as if something had personally insulted him. “His death was all…all weird. I felt him die, but…it was like when you miss a step and then you regain your balance. It gives me a headache just thinking about it. Mark my words, Leo Valdez will be back and causing trouble somehow and in some way, and when I see him I’m going to punch his lights out.”

“What did Leo do to you?” Jake asked shortly.

“Did you not hear me? He gave me a headache,” Nico scoffed before he glared at the sky as if Leo might come floating down from it like Mary Poppins. “Also he made Hazel cry, and I can’t forgive that. For that he deserves to die one more death of my construction.”

“You are morbid,” Will said as a chuckle burst past his lips. Nico blinked before looking away quickly. Were his ears red? Will wondered if he was feeling okay. Will waved goodbye to Jake as he went to join the rest of his siblings before turning to Nico. He tried to swallow his nervousness. There was no way he would ask before the Three-Legged Death Race, he didn’t want Nico distracted. He would ask maybe after. Maybe. Hopefully. “Are you ready for the race?”

“I’ve never done one of these before,” Nico admitted as he crossed his arms over his chest, brow furrowed. “I don’t actually know what’s going to happen.”

“Well, we’ve got to try to run through the obstacle course with our legs tied together,” Will explained.

“Tied together?” Nico said, really looking like he wasn’t happy about that. Will couldn’t help but deflate.

“Is it…is that okay?” Will asked nervously.

“Well I mean, we’re going to be pretty close then, right?” Nico asked, not meeting Will’s gaze. “Is that going to bother you?”

“Why would that bother me?” Will asked. Though it would bother him because Nico was his crush and being close to him might make Will flustered, it wasn’t like he was going to hate it. In fact, he was worried about being too happy about it.

“I’ve been told I give off a creepy vibe,” Nico said looking half suspicious. “Haven’t you noticed?”

“Well, you are creepy. But that’s just part of your personality, and I like that about you,” Will promised him, before feeling his cheeks reddened. “I-I mean…yeah…”

“Oh…okay,” Nico said slowly, swallowing before walking forward somewhat stiffly.

Was it really going to bother him? Will thought worriedly. He knew that Nico wasn’t all that great with the touching-people thing. Will really didn’t want to do anything that would make Nico uncomfortable, but he also knew that bringing it up might be annoying to Nico. And as far as Will could tell, Nico was really trying to get involved in things in the camp. Will decided what would be best was to just be supportive. If Nico was uncomfortable, Will hoped he would speak up.

“Alright everybody,” Harley said as he got up on the little chair that he had set up by the starting line. “Welcome to our first Three-Legged Race! We’re going to be mostly getting the kinks out this time since it’s a new activity. The goal is to get to the end of the obstacle course which is the other end of the forest! First place gets a special candy basket, curtsey of Aphrodite Cabin. Thanks guys! Please tie your leg to your partner’s with the approved knot, and no funny stuff! Me or Chiron will be checking them so no cheating! Other than that there isn’t any rules besides the standard rules of engagement for CHB!”

There was a dramatic groan from Hermes Cabin kids as people began to line up and get their legs tied together. Will bent down and tied Nico and his own legs together with a snug knot before testing it by pulling his leg to the side a bit. Nico lost his balance for a moment before leveling an annoyed look at him. 

“What? Too tight?” Will asked him concerned.

“No, you are too tall,” Nico said as he crossed his arms over his chest and squinted at him angrily, despite the color to his face. Maybe he had gotten sunburnt? “It pisses me off.”

“Aw, Neeks, thank you!”

“That wasn’t a compliment!” Nico grumbled.

“Hey Nico! See you at the finish line!” Percy called as he waved, Annabeth just rolled her eyes and elbowed him. He threw an arm over her shoulder and Annabeth gazed at Percy with a melting kind of sweetness, Percy returned it with a fond kiss to her hairline. Annabeth batted him away, with a little color in her cheeks, before looking ready to crush some enemies.

“They’re so cute,” Will said with a jealous sigh, clutching his heart. “I actually can’t take it.” 

“Hey Will?” Nico asked, breaking Will from his internal reflection on the transformative power of love.

“Yeah?”

“No matter what, we are beating Percy,” Nico said, looking less impressed with Percy and Annabeth’s love and more ready to break some femurs if that was what it was going to take to win. That, in its own way, was rather adorable. Terrifying, but adorable. Will thought.

“Wait—what—”

“All contenders, take your marks! Get set, go!”

Nico, despite his shorter stride, was a fast runner. Thankfully Will was able to mostly keep in step with him. Nico made a show off hissing at him when their arms continued to smack each other while they moved, however, that annoyance was quickly stopped when suddenly something caught Will’s eye and he yelped, hooked his arm around Nico, and ducked. They both sprawled out on the ground, but Julia and Alice were not so lucky as they got snared by a net which pinned them to a tree.

“What kind of obstacles did they say we are dealing with here?” Nico asked as he glared forward.

“They didn’t,” Will said slowly as he nervously looked around. “Harley didn’t even say we needed armor.”

“I’m going to strangle that kid,” Nico said as he blew a leaf that had gotten stuck on his face away before they both got up. “Okay, let’s go before something causes us grievous bodily harm.”

It seemed like they only made it a few steps in any direction without some sort of horrid trap springing on them. They dodged flaming banana cream pies, pissed off dryads with gardening supplies, disturbed bee hives, and Nico even pulled Will back before he fell into a spike pit. A _real_ spike pit. 

“Oh my Gods we are going to die! We’re seriously going to die! Who in the name of Zeus let Harley do all of this? Were they on drugs?” Will demanded as he pointed at the spike pit in utter horror. It continued to stay there, gaping wide open, as if agreeing with Will’s shock and dismay. Nico, despite looking as thoroughly inconvenienced as any soccer mom waiting at the customer service desk, appeared to appreciate and approve of the aesthetic statement the spike pit was making.

“Oh, okay, so you’re fine with the lava wall, teenagers fighting each other with weapons that can actually hurt them, Gods and monsters, and the occasional prophecy. But you draw the line at spike pits? What are your standards?” Nico said with a roll of his eyes.

“Well guess what, I’m drawing the line right here. I am not moving from this spot. I am not participating in this hell race—” 

Suddenly all of the words that were coming out of Will’s throat got caught like a rabbit in a snare, as Nico grabbed his hand squeezed it and began walking them both forward at a fast trudge. Will was sure that he was still trying to say words, but literally nothing but half garbled gasps were coming out of his face. 

“You aren’t going to die,” Nico said firmly, facing forward and wearing an expression of pure determination. “Because I’m not going to let you die. Will Solace, you are not allowed to die. Just stay with me and I’ll get us out of here but we definitely won’t get out of here if we don’t keep moving.” 

“Nico...you’re so cool,” Will blurted out, probably sounding like an idiot, but he couldn’t help but be in awe of Nico di Angelo’s raw confidence. Nico pulled Will along with a completely self-assured gait despite the danger, and Will couldn’t help but keep blushing. “I...uh, Nico, my hand. You’re holding my hand.”

“Did you need it for something?” Nico asked him briskly, pointedly keeping his head facing forward.

“I...well, no, but I…” Will stuttered, his words scraping over his teeth.

“Then shut up, Capri Sun,” Nico gruffly responded. And could almost believe that Nico was just annoyed at him and was leading him through the woods by the hand out of pure necessity, except that Nico’s ears were red and his hand was sweaty just like Will’s. And just that was enough to give Will confidence.

“Nico—Nico wait,” Will said urgently, all common sense currently at the bottom of the spike pit, as he tugged on Nico’s arm. “I need to ask you something, something important.” 

“Can’t it wait until we’re out of mortal danger?” Nico asked impatiently.

“We’re demigods! Since when are we ever out of danger?”

“Well? What?”

“Do you—”

There was suddenly a scream, the kind of animalistic cry of pain and terror that made Will’s blood curdle in his veins. Nico’s head whipped to the side and his expression was alarmed, which didn’t make Will feel any better.

“Someone’s close to death,” Nico said, confirming Will’s fear as he tapped the side of head. “Life Alert. Fun little power of mine.”

“Not if I can help it,” Will said as he took a throwing knife and cut the band holding them together in one motion. Newly separated and disqualified, they both took off in the direction of the scream with Nico guiding the way.

The scene itself was grisly when Will burst through the underbrush, his brain catching details. Paolo Montes on the ground, axe covered in blood buried in a nearby tree and two rather sickening looking lumps that were Paolo Montes’ arms lying beneath it. Mitchell was ashen and shuddering uncontrollably on the ground.

Will lunged forward, pressing his pressing his palm down on Paolo Montes’ chest in the CPR position. Will felt his magic gush past his usually well-constructed and maintained barriers and push right into Paolo, reinvigorating his dwindling life force and making Paolo’s body jerk. He groaned, and breathed.

“Mitchell,” Will called quietly, looking to the demigod who was obviously going into shock. “Mitchell, are you hurt?”

“I-I’m okay, I think,” Mitchell managed to get out from chattering teeth. “Oh Gods, oh Gods his arms—”

“Mitchell, stay with me,” Will ordered, looking him right in the eyes. “I need you to get a hold of yourself. I can’t move from where I am right now, so I need your help. Do you understand?”

“Okay, okay,” Mitchell said nodding his head hard and fast.

“I need you to get Chiron now. Tell him that there is an emergency and the game is off by order of the camp head medic. I need all of my cabin members, two containers of ice and large plastic bags, and all of the traps in the forest to be unset now. Can you repeat that back to me, Mitchell?”

“You need Chiron, the game is off. Your cabin members...ice and containers, and the traps need to be unset.”

“Good job. Now go, and be careful okay?” Mitchell went sprinting away, and Will squeezed his eyes shut as he organized his thoughts. “Nico, I need help.”

“What do you need?” Nico asked immediately.

“I need you to go into my pack and grab the ace gauze and two sturdy sticks, I’ll talk you through how to make an emergency tourniquet. Do you have any nectar or ambrosia?”

“I have unicorn draught,” Nico said as he gathered the sticks and sat back down by him.

“It’ll have to do. If he wakes up we’ll give him that. After that, it isn’t going to be pretty, but I’ll someone to get Paolo’s arms. If we’re going to have any hope of reattaching then I’ll need them clean and cold.” 

“I can try to keep them from starting to rot,” Nico said as he pulled off his sweatshirt and began rummaging through his first aid pack. “I’ve never done it before, but if I can reanimate the dead, then I have to be able to preserve it right?” 

“Honestly, that’s some of the best news I’ve heard all day. If you can do that, great, if not I’m more concerned about keeping Paolo alive,” Will admitted, feeling himself start to sweat, heat beginning to build within him. He winced. He didn’t need to sing to use his magic, but it was easier, especially when most of his power was going to keeping someone alive. But he needed to give directions, he would have to tough it out for the moment and conserve where he could. Chiron would probably need him on the reattachment so he would need to be in alright shape. “Okay, we’ll get going on the tourniquets.”

“Are you sure I should be touching him?” Nico asked concerned. “What if I…speed up the process?”

“He’s already lost his arms, how much faster do you think death could possibly approach?” Will snapped at him, before giving Nico an apologetic look. “It’ll be okay, I guarantee it. You aren’t the only one with Life Alert. Now come on, and start wrapping a few inches above the wounds.”

Despite his initial hesitation Nico followed Will’s direction on creating the knot and twisting with the stick, well enough that Will was honestly considering asking Chiron to put Nico on infirmary duty more often. Will could feel the pressure that had built up in the back of his head as he had desperately held back the blood-flow release. Nico held both tourniquets easily, and Will was able to focus his healing magic to keep Paolo’s heart beating, his lungs moving air, and to keep shock from setting in. Thank all the merciful Gods that Paolo was still unconscious, Will thought wryly. Even if he could speak Portuguese, he doubted he could come up with a good explanation for this. 

“And now we wait,” Will said as he breathed in and out in a steady rhythm, the rhythm of a heartbeat, the rhythm of healing. “You did a good job, Nico.”

“He isn’t out of the woods yet, not by a long shot,” Nico added. “And I just followed your directions.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, you’re good in a crisis. And well,” Will said with a wry grin. “Now’s when the challenge is going to start. I’ve never attached a fully detached limb, let alone two limbs before.”

“And you say I’m morbid,” Nico said with a roll of his eyes, and seemed to listen as Will began to sing.

* * *

“Nico, I did it!” Will said excitedly as he exited the Big House. Nico was standing there in different clothes and Will was still wearing his bloodstained scrubs. Weird, Will thought, as he half stumbled, hadn’t it been like noon? Why was it pink outside? “I reattached Paolo’s arms! I really did it! I—oh Gods—”

Suddenly the world turned and Will went with it. Will tripped and sank against a post for the volleyball court, scrabbling at it to help claw his way up, but he found that his arms had apparently been replaced by overcooked noodles. Who would have done such a horrible thing? Nico went over and grabbed him by the side to haul him up straight, which was really attractive. Like Nico who was also super attractive. And Will would have told him so if he could’ve made the words go in his brain space. Had it only been a week ago, maybe two weeks, that Nico had flinched away at Will’s touch? What was with this development? How could one guy be so lucky, Will thought with a rather dopey grin.

“Idiot, and you said I overdo it! You worked through the night and the whole day and you expect…” Nico trailed off, catching Will’s look, as he helped Will walk forward. “I can’t believe you. You are lucky that Cecil and Lou Ellen sent me over here to get you. Did you really think you could walk in this state?”

“Ha ha, sorry Nico,” Will said with what was probably still a smile but he really couldn’t feel his face. And he was pretty sure every part of him was aching. Could hair even hurt? If it could, it was definitely hurting. “I promised you I would help you beat Percy.”

“Why are you even still worried about that?” Nico said with a shake of his head. “Solace, you need to stop worrying about other people and take a day off.”

“Chiron probably won’t let me back in the infirmary for a few days,” Will said as he swayed like tall grass waving in the wind and the world waved back at him. “Power fatigue is rough.”

“Well…that’s good,” Nico said as he chewed his bottom lip. “If you have a few days off…maybe…I won that hundred dollars. Do you want to maybe go somewhere with me?”

“Are you asking me on a date?” Will asked as he blinked furiously. Was this happening? Was this really happening? Will wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t happening because he felt like if he fell over his head would crack like an egg and sunshine and looney tunes might come out of it. Nocturnal lagophthalmos which was the inability to sleep with one’s eyes closed was a thing, and then of course son…sun? Somnambulism—sleep walking. Was Will sleep walking? Was Will even walking? Was Will even alive? Was he next level sleep walking where not only was his body moving for him but the world became a weird dream place where Nico asked him—Will Solace—out on dates? What would possess such a cute boy like him to do such a thing?

“I—If you want it to be a date,” Nico repeated firmly, seemingly tearing his eyes off from the horizon and looking at Will, dark eyes hopeful. “If you want it to be a date, then it’s a date.” 

“What do you want?” Will asked.

“I…I want it to be a date,” Nico admitted as he ducked his head back down, and just like that Will wouldn’t have been happier if he could have petted a puppy at Disney World.

“Awesome! Then it’s a date. Woah…was…was the sky always open like that?” Will asked very eloquently, before he toppled over and passed out.


	10. A Machete, Cotton Candy, and a Jar of Pennies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Well, since starting anything with Nico di Angelo obviously isn’t going to go anywhere, and I had no idea why, I…I guess I’m just not going to go for it. If I tried it would be a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Will said as he waved off Cecil. “I mean, how hard could not falling for one boy be?”
> 
> In the aftermath of the battle Will has a strange dream, one that seems to predict his heart being broken by Nico di Angelo. The only problem being, Will has only really talked to him once. Will makes up his mind then and there that falling in love with a boy that will only end up breaking his heart is the last thing he will do. Or so he hopes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, apologies. Real life things happened and kept me from updating. Really, I’m sorry about that, but, it happens.I hope that this extra long chapter will make up for it! I hope everyone’s as excited as I am for Will and Nico’s first date! So without further ado, enjoy!

The day before Will’s first date with Nico (where Will confirmed that yes, it was actually a date, no he wasn’t dreaming, and yes he would try to get some sleep), Will knew he couldn’t just keep everything inside. By virtue Will’s infinite wisdom he also came to the conclusion that talking to his siblings about it was a recipe for disaster. So instead, he asked Chiron if he could use the Big House phone so he could call someone who he knew would actually be able to help him and give him advice. Hopefully without making Will feel like going on a date was a horrible idea or blow it out of proportion into something it wasn’t. So he went to the phone, spent a few minutes trying to formulate a script in his mind for what he was about to say, before finally biting the bullet and dialing. The phone rang a few times, and then after the longest pause of Will’s whole life he heard the click and the connection.

“Hello?” Papa Vernon’s voice came from the other side, gruff but warm. Will was taken back immediately to the only other place besides CHB that he considered home. He could feel the thick sunlight against his skin, the scent of pine and hot gravel, could almost see the flutter of his Grandmother’s drapes and hear the creak of a rocking chair on the porch. Abundance, the small town in Texas where Will had grown up was right behind his eyelids in startling detail. It was all so powerful that he had to blink a few times to keep his eyes clear.

“Hey Papa, you busy?” Will asked hoping his voice didn’t crack, and he almost heard his grandfather’s smile through the phone.

“Too busy to talk to you? Never. How’re you doing?” Papa Vernon asked. “How’s camp? Not too exciting I hope.”

“There was an emergency the other day during a Three-Legged Race that I helped out with, but other than that it’s been fine recently,” Will explained as he twisted the cord around his finger. “What about you?”

“I’m just preparing for tomorrow’s service,” Papa Vernon told him with a content hum. So he was in preaching mode, Will recognized. That could either be good or bad. His grandfather was the leader of Abundance’s only church, and was basically the town’s leader because of it. It suited his grandpa, Will couldn’t imagine Papa Vernon doing anything else, but on occasion Will felt that his grandfather could be a bit…Old Testament.

“I...I do have some news,” Will said as he swallowed heavily. “I have a date tomorrow.”

“Oh really?” Papa Vernon asked, sounding surprised and pleased, on the other side Will heard paper rustling and a pen clicking. This had obviously caught his grandfather’s attention. “This is new.”

“Yeah it is new. _His_ name is Nico. He just asked me to go on a date with him yesterday,” Will said with a smile, putting emphasis on the pronoun so his grandfather wouldn’t ask for clarification or make any assumptions.

“Nico, hm? And do you like this Nico?” Papa Vernon asked him, sounding out his name as if he weren’t sure what to think of it. Sometimes it took his Grandpapa a little bit to get used to the hectic nature of Will’s life, especially since he didn’t call as often as either of them would like. To his grandfather, who’s life moved at the pace of warmed over molasses, a demigod’s schedule must have been strange. Will couldn’t help but feel guilty about it, but there wasn’t anything he could do. Thankfully his mortal family understood that well and didn’t pressure him. 

“Yeah, I really do. He’s so cool, Papa. He’s strong, and he’s smart, and—and—he’s so brave. And he’s funny, too. He’s good. Really good,” Will explained with a sigh as he thought about Nico. “He’s too good to be true, honestly. He’s like something someone dreamed up.”

“But I’m sensing a ‘but’,” Papa Vernon noted after he cleared his throat to get Will back on track. Will chewed on his bottom lip for a moment, trying to make sense of his confusing and conflicting thoughts, before sighing heavily.

“Papa...I have something inside of me that’s telling me that it’s impossible. That it won’t work out. I don’t know how or why but that thing in the back of my head keeps telling me that it isn’t going to work out,” Will explained the best he could before sighing. His grandfather was understanding of a lot of things, considering he thought demigods were Nephilim and that Greek gods were all angels and all of the harrowing life-threatening stuff was just Revelations-esque things, but Will liked to keep things as normal for him as possible. Telling his grandfather he had a prophetic dream wasn’t what Will could classify as normal. “This probably doesn’t make any sense.”

“Will, do you think it won’t work out because of you, or because of him?” Papa Vernon asked him with sagely amounts of patience. Will wished he could approach his own life with that kind of patience instead of just jumping straight into panic.

“Him...no, me. Both? I don’t know,” Will groaned into the phone. “Papa, I’m so confused. I don’t know what to do.” 

“Well, son listen here. Lemme give you two sets of advice. First as your pastor remember that our Father in heaven causes the sun to rise and sends rain on the lands of plenty and sets the course for the willing heart and mind. No matter what happens, it’s intended, and the Lord has given you the tools to deal with those challenges that may face you. Sometimes prophecies come true in unexpected ways, that’s just the Lord’s way of keeping us from being complacent. Do not fear this, instead, move forward with willing heart and mind. Second, as your grandfather, I think yer growing into a mighty fine man. When I was young like you, if you can imagine it, I also dated—”

Will tried to cover his laughter, but he ended up snorting into the phone. His grandfather gave a fond chiding huff before continuing on as if he had never been interrupted in the first place. It was a super power his grandpapa possessed.

“—so I will let you know this from my personal experience. If you go into a date with your tail tucked between your legs, it won’t be a fun date. Don’t worry about what will or won’t be. Focus on having a good time, and things will work out either way. Will you promise me you’ll do that, son?” 

“I’ll try, Papa,” Will promised him. “I have to go, tell everyone I love them and I’m thinking of them.”

“I will. I’m wishin’ you luck. Tell your brothers and sisters I’m thinking and praying for them. Oh, and your mother called the other day asking if we’d heard from you. Give her a call, I think she’ll be in New York in a month or two and was wondering if you could visit.”

“Okay, I will. Love you, Papa.”

“Love you too. Goodbye now.”

* * *

“Okay, listen, you cannot wear that,” Austin said exasperated as he snatched Will’s yellow and red flannel out of his hands. “Britney’s 90s sound may be coming back, but not that color scheme. Seriously, Will? Where did you even buy this?”

“I got it at a yard sale—where does where I get things matter?” Will asked with a huff. “Besides, it’s comfortable. Who cares what color it is?”

“No, no, no. I’m not having my older brother go on a first date dressed like he just escaped from the fashion police,” Austin told him with an offended sniff. Kayla was snickering on her bed as she stole potato chips from the Apollo Cabin snack stash. Will gave her a look, and she stuck her tongue out at him.

“Guys, just don’t say anything to people. I’m not sure he’s ready to…you know,” Will said with a frown.

“We got it, we got it. We’ll be good,” Austin said as he rifled through Will’s drawer. He chucked a green and brown plaid shirt at Will, before giving a disgusted look at some orange track pants. “Seriously Will?”

“Oh! I forgot I had those, awesome!”

“Somehow I wonder how we’re related,” Austin said with a roll of his eyes as he tossed pale tan shorts at Will’s face. “And no flip flops!”

“What do you mean no flip flops?!”

That’s how Will found himself waiting at the entrance to the Labyrinth, his toes feeling squished in converse, and carrying his satchel with his emergency supplies (as one should always carry when one is a demigod). He was ungodly nervous, to the point where he was sure he was quaking in his shoes and half wanted to run back to his cabin. How bad would it be if he just dived into the lake and didn’t come up? Will wondered. He was sure that Nico would do worse to him if he really messed this up or embarrassed him by being seen in public with Will.

No, Will told himself. He could do this. He wanted to do this. Will liked Nico, and he was going to change his fate. It was going to be a great first date, and the first step to that was a positive attitude like his grandfather had said. Everything was going to turn out fine—better than fine, great. He just needed to be confident. Out of all the boys in Camp Half-Blood, somehow Nico found him to be the most suitable to go on an actual date with. So like Tim Gunn always said, he was going to make it work.

“Oh, uh, hey. Am I late?” Nico’s voice startled him and Will jumped as Nico almost literally appeared out of the shade of the forest. Nico gave Will an apologetic look, and Will immediately noted that the shadows under his eyes weren’t from the trees. He looked amazing though, besides the usual lack of sleep. His hair was pulled back, he was wearing that amazing leather jacket, a black tee shirt, dark jeans, and combat boots. He carried a backpack, and his sword was belted. Will often wondered how demigods like Nico got around wearing weaponry, but to someone looking through the mist it probably would have just looked like a cool belt accessory. It struck Will for the first time how much healthier he looked from the first time they had really talked a month ago. His previously pale, sickly, and nearly translucent skin had tanned—cooler toned than Will’s sure, but tanned nonetheless. His eyes weren’t as haunted and colorless and Will from this distance couldn’t feel darkness crawling underneath his skin, his face had lost a lot of the unhealthy edge and had begun to fill out.

Part of Will was proud. Nico still could go a far way health wise, but he was doing well. He knew that it still frustrated Nico that he couldn’t shadow travel like he used to, but Will knew that it would come with time. Another part of Will was terrified of the passing time, because Nico was inching closer and closer to the Nico in his dream.

The leaves haven’t turned yet, Will told himself to calm down. I still have time. I can turn this around, I’ve just got to give it my all.

“No, no. I’m just early, it’s a habit of mine,” Will promised him, and Nico awkwardly looked away from his gaze as he chewed on his lip.

“Your—your shirt is…you look good. Not that you usually look bad but—I—forget it,” Nico stuttered. Will blinked in shock. Was Nico nervous? He was nervous! Nerves were good it meant…it meant…

Don’t jump the gun, Will thought at himself, despite the fact he was grinning and nearly glowing with happiness. He had to tone it down, Will thought, but also knew that it would probably be physically impossible.

“I think you look good too,” Will promised him and Nico jutted out his jaw and he began to stomp forward.

“You coming?” Nico asked shortly as he stood at the mouth of the Labyrinth.

“Absolutely!” Will nearly chirped as he nearly skipped forward to join Nico. Will wasn’t usually a fan of the Labyrinth, it was dark and underground which to a child of Apollo were two things that weren’t high on the list of enjoyable attributes. But Nico moved underground with confidence, not hesitating as he led them through the passageways, so Will felt a little better despite feeling like he was being deprived of something dear to him. Like oxygen. Or tickets to Hamilton. “So, where are we going?”

“Well…I hope we’re going to NYC. The Labyrinth can be kind touchy though so hopefully we come out in the right place,” Nico said with a shrug as he pulled out his Stygian Iron sword and poked a rock. Will noted, that he did so with his left hand.

“You a lefty?” Will asked curiously.

“I usually use my right hand, but I can and have trained to use my sword with both hands…so, that makes me ambidextrous I guess.” 

“That’s pretty cool. I’ve been called ambisextrious before,” Will joked, and when he saw Nico’s blank face he cleared his throat. “I was…making a pun. Because I’m bisexual I…never mind.”

“What does that mean?”

“What does what mean?” Will asked Nico curiously.

“Bisexual. What does that mean?” Nico rephrased, Will tipped his head to the side. Oh. Yeah. Nico probably wouldn’t have known that, now that Will was thinking about it. Since he was new to the whole LGBT-thing, the terminology probably wasn’t there yet.

“Oh, it means I like both girls and boys,” Will explained as he hopped over a rather scary looking hole that didn’t seem to be going anywhere.

“At the same time?” Nico asked confused.

“Well, it means I’ve had crushes on both boys and girls before. I haven’t really like liked two people or more at the same time, that’s polyamory—I’m losing you aren’t I?”

“It’s just that…when and where I was growing up, homosexual acts were something that people did. People weren’t homosexuals. And if they tried…it was really dangerous,” Nico explained quietly, glaring at the wall of the labyrinth as if it had personally insulted him. “I mean, I know that it isn’t true. I didn’t make a conscious choice to be gay, and no one really does. But it’s crazy how much things change…how much thoughts change over the years. It’s hard for me to understand.”

“It can still be dangerous, but things are changing,” Will promised him. “Listen, let me try to explain this so you understand. Things like sexuality, gender, and romantic attraction are all on spectrums—like scales. So for instance, on the sexuality scale, being the people a person’s physically interested in, on one side of the scale is boys and on the other is girls. I fall in the middle of the scale, since I’m attracted to both. But who I’m attracted to and who I have romantic feelings about are different? Does that make more sense?”

“Maybe,” Nico admitted. “I need to think about it longer, before it all really makes sense to me.”

“What about you?” Will asked.

“I…I just like boys. I’ve only ever liked boys.”

“Cool,” Will said with a smile, thanking his lucky stars that he was a boy that Nico might actually like. That was a pretty awesome development, Will thought proudly. 

“I was nervous because I didn’t know if I should ask you on a date,” Nico admitted. “If you would even want to go on a date with me, because I didn’t know if you were interested in boys like me.”

“Why?” Will asked in return, confused. “What do you mean by boys like you?”

“Well…you said you thought Percy was attractive…and you had dated Drew. I don’t look like either of them so…I didn’t know if I…if you would mind going on a date with me,” Nico struggled to explain.

“Hey, you also had a crush on Percy Jackson. And I also don’t look anything like Percy Jackson,” Will pointed out to him while pointing at his own face which was very un-Percy-Jackson-like. Nico scowled at the comparison, or at the reminder. Which one Will wasn’t entirely sure. 

“It’s not the same,” Nico huffed indignantly, crossing his arms over his chest. “You’ve gone out with other people, and everyone likes you and I…I’m not like other people. I wasn’t sure you would be okay with me. To go on a date with me, that is.”

“Nico, it’s true you aren’t like other people. There is only one Nico di Angelo, and that’s the reason why I’m here isn’t it? I wanted to go on a date with you,” Will pointed out to him, his cheeks warm. Nico seemingly tripped over something before using the wall to steady himself. “Besides, I’ve only ever gone out with Drew. And that was for like, three weeks. It wasn’t really a lasting relationship.”

“Oh,” Nico said, not elaborating. Whether it was because he had nothing else to say or because he didn’t want to continue with this conversation, again, Will wasn’t entirely sure. He patted the wall, pressing something and then an entranceway seemingly appeared to the side. “We’re here.”

“Sweet,” Will said walking behind him. Will couldn’t help but be excited. He hadn’t left Camp Half-Blood proper in a while, the last time had been a supply run earlier that summer. It was safe to say that he was hoping that it would go better than getting trapped in a CVS at eight in the morning by a cyclops with Sherman Yang and Pollux. Which honestly was a really low bar. They entered into a tiny metal thingy, and when Nico finally managed to jimmy it open they half fell out of a utility shed and onto a walkway. Will caught his balance and looked up to see a Ferris wheel, roller coasters, pastel tents, and heard the roar of the ocean and the call of seagulls. He took in a deep breath, of fried food and the ocean, and grinned widely.

“Oh! Hey! Coney Island!” Will said excitedly recognizing where they were almost as soon as he got his bearings, bouncing back on his heels. A middle-aged dad gave both Will and Nico a weird look as he dragged his daughter away from the kids who had emerged from the shed. “You could’ve told me that we were going here! Well, since we’re here, why don’t we have fun? Have you ever been here before?”

“Yeah...I think so. The memory’s all fuzzy though and things were a lot different I think,” Nico admitted as they walked forward. Will kept an eye out for anyone who might have caught a whiff of demigod and thought today was a good day to try their luck, but there seemed to be no monsters lurking about. “This place seems familiar...it’s sort of the same feeling when I walk around NYC a lot. Like, things have changed but the essence of the place is still the same.”

“How long has it been since you’ve come here?” Will asked, confused by the vagueness of Nico’s answer.

“1939? Maybe?”

“You mean...like in the Year of Our Lord nineteen hundred and thirty-nine? That 1939?” Will asked in surprise, his mind racing as he went back over this new information in the light of all of their interactions. He quickly picked up a stuffed animal a baby dropped out of its carriage and gave it back to the baby, making a face and waving at the child who waved back at him.

“Is there another 1939 that I should be aware of?” Nico asked sarcastically, watching Will like one would when they saw something interesting at a zoo. Like Will was some kind of rare creature that Nico needed to study before he could truly understand. Or maybe Nico just didn’t like babies. Or maybe Will had something on his face. Will rubbed at his cheeks, hoping that wasn’t the case.

“Holy shit, Nico, you are probably so behind on vaccines.”

“Ugh, no, unfortunately. I got a bunch of vaccines when I first went to Westover.”

“When was that?”

“When I was ten.”

“Nico, you need to get some vaccines every year!”

Nico suddenly stifled a laugh, which surprised Will. Nico shook his head as if he couldn’t quite figure out what to do with Will, which, honestly Will understood the feeling himself. It took Nico a moment to compose himself enough to respond, but even while he did Will couldn’t help but miss the sound of Nico’s spontaneous and joyful laughter. The sound was funny, slightly raspy, and Will would honestly do anything to hear it again and again.

“I wasn’t quite expecting that reaction, but then again, you always manage to surprise me,” Nico said with a huff before looking sad. “Most people...feel bad when they find out I guess.”

“I mean...you don’t have to tell me what happened. That’s for when and if you decide to tell me. But all demigods have been through things, so sure, it sucks. But I relate...in a way. I wouldn’t want someone to feel bad about the things that happened to me, cause it’s not their fault. I know you probably feel the same way. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah. Still, thanks,” Nico said quietly, thinking about things obviously before speaking once more as they walked shoulder to shoulder. “Well, anyways, I haven’t been here since then.” 

“Then we have to make we see everything,” Will told him, sounding very understandable. “Just so you can compare, obviously. What do you want to do first?” 

Nico pointed and Will looked to see the giant wooden rollercoaster and the distant screaming. Will grinned and nodded before they began to walk towards the rollercoaster together, passing by venders and through the crowds. The sounds of carousels and the clatter of rides on tracks with the crash of the waves and the cry of seagulls, children laughing, the flash of cameras and colors. The air was saturated with the feeling of joy. The darkness of Nico’s jacket caught the sun, and in that moment Will was utterly terrified that he would lose him, or that he would disappear like a mirage and melt into the shimmer of the sunlight. Will’s hand jerked out before his mind could argue and Will’s finger’s brushed Nico’s arm. Nico stopped suddenly and stared at him. Will retracted his hand, heat creeping up his neck.

“I’m sorry, I just thought that I might lose you,” Will said, keeping his hands where he could control them, wrapped around the strap of his satchel. “I…uh…sorry.”

“You want to hold my hand?” Nico asked, blinking rapidly as if trying to get over his surprise, his hands coming out of his pocket.

“Well…yeah. Is that okay? Or is it too much?” Will asked, scooching out of the way of a family walking by who swung a kid between them.

“We’ve held hands before, sort of,” Nico said, before offering his hand hesitantly. “I don’t mind.”

Will wanted to ask if he really didn’t mind, if he was really okay with a human disaster like Will holding his hand on their first date, but instead of saying anything self-incriminating Will took Nico’s hand. Will beamed at Nico and squeezed his fingers, smiling so hard he felt it in his cheeks. For a moment Nico met his look, before blushing and looking down, but didn’t take his hand from Will’s. That alone was probably enough to make Will happy for the rest of the summer. They walked together, hand in hand to the line. And stood in the line, still hand in hand. By the time they got to the front of the line, Will wasn’t looking forward to letting go.

“I think we have to check if you are tall enough,” Will said, pointing to the measuring stick painted on a wooden sign. Nico glared at Will as if he was considering breaking that sign over his head.

“First off, screw you. Secondly, fuck off,” Nico growled at him.

“Nico,” Will gasped as he released Nico’s hand and grabbed Nico’s shoulders to turn him before lightly covering his ears. “Sh, there are children present.”

“I—asshole, we’re literally the same age!” Nico snapped at him, glaring up at him with furrowed brows, swatting him away. Will laughed at what Lou Ellen would call “Nico’s ‘tude”, which had more bark than bite. Well, if Will really annoyed Nico he was sure that Nico might bite off his nose or something. But as Will was beginning to learn, annoyance was more a look that Nico liked to wear rather than a constant state of mind.

“Please put your belongings in the box before you enter the ride,” a tired looking teen, probably a few years older than them said as they walked forward. Nico placed his backpack in the box as the teen looked at Will with dead eyes. “Your purse, kid.”

“It’s not a purse, it’s a satchel,” Will muttered under his breath as he jammed the satchel in the box. Nico was cackling and Will leveled his own glare at him as they slid into the first car of the rollercoaster. “Why doesn’t the mist work on anything when it would be _useful_?”

“When does magic ever make our lives easier? Isn’t that the whole problem with being a demigod?” Nico asked as he plopped down, his sword clanging against the cart’s seat. If anyone noticed, not that they probably could, no one said anything.

“Is that safe?” Will asked suspiciously eyeing the sword. “What if that thing flies off and assassinates me.”

“My sword doesn’t have a political motive,” Nico said with frown. “For it to be an assassination it needs to be politically motivated.”

“Wow, gee. Thank you for all of your _murder trivia_ , I feel so well informed and so much better.”

“Well, at least you’ll have learned something instead of just staying an ignorant peasant your whole life,” Nico told him with his best noble sniff. “Besides, it’s a magic sword and it’s bound to the hilt. It’ll be fine. I’m not leaving it with your purse. I could need it, and I can’t have any mortal accidentally touching it. They might die, or get consumed by my sword, or cause a panic or something.”

“Satchel,” Will grumbled. Nico gave a cough that suspiciously sounded like a laugh, before Will bumped his shoulder against Nico’s. Nico gave him a sidelong look before bumping his shoulder back as the teen came to pull down the bar on all of the carts. “You ready?” 

Nico gave him a wide grin. It was full of teeth and it pulled up his full mouth, and Nico looked so happy and excited that it took Will’s breath away.

“I’m so ready,” Nico said.

I’m not ready, Will thought desperately before adding, I’m so not ready.

* * *

Something that Will learned about Nico was that he was an adrenaline junkie. As soon as they were done with one roller coaster, Nico was up for another. Will might have liked rollercoasters a lot, but he was glad when Nico mentioned that he was hungry. Will could only take the floor-dropping-out-from-underneath-him sensation so many times in a row before he got a bit overstimulated and needed to take a break, sit down, and keep from feeling like the lights and sounds were reaching into his skull and scrambling his brains and keeping him from focusing.

Will found himself sitting across from Nico, both with two hotdogs each, fries, and soda. Will took a sip of his Dr. Pepper, sighing. There wasn’t much that was better than an ice-cold soda in the hot summer sun. Nico munching on his fries with gusto, the sight making Will smile.

“I see someone likes to add a little vitamin G into their diet,” Will noted.

“Vitamin G?” Nico asked with a raised brow.

“Grease,” Will teased as he tossed Nico a fry. Nico snapped it from the air between his teeth, and Will felt like his heart was being snatched out of his chest yet again because how perfect could one boy be? Will was so absorbed that when he took a bite from his hotdog he pulled his hand away too fast, causing him to half drop the hotdog. Nico snorted into his soda, Will wiped his face with his napkin. “Are you laughing at me?”

“No,” Nico lied between snickers.

“You are so laughing at me,” Will said as he stuck his foot out, kicking Nico’s boot with his sneaker. Nico kicked him back, his foot running up Will’s leg. Nico gave Will a small almost shy smile, and Will felt his ears heat up. Oh my gods, he was flirting with Nico. And Nico was flirting back. He didn’t find Will’s attempts weird. This was happening, and Will was enjoying it.

“Okay, maybe just a little,” Nico admitted as he polished off a hotdog.

“So what do you want to do now?” Will asked him curiously. Nico’s gaze seemingly scanned the immediate surrounding, before landing on the stalls of games and arcades. He appeared somewhat hesitant from the way his jaw clenched, despite his obvious longing. “Got something against arcades?”

“No…I don’t, but I happen to have gotten trapped in one once,” Nico said as he grabbed something that looked like a handle out of his bag. “But trust me, I’m not getting caught in one again.”

“Uh, Nico—holy shit is that a machete?” Will hissed as he pulled up Nico’s wrist to show the telltale curved hilt before shoving it back down. Will looked around, thankful that no one had seen it. “Nico, why are you walking around with a machete?!”

“I just told you. In case I get trapped somewhere,” Nico said with a frown.

“But you have a sword!”

“Do you honestly think I’m stupid enough to walk around with only one weapon? Seriously?” 

“You can’t just—what is this?” Will asked as rooted around Nico’s backpack for any other weapons or surprises and he pulled out a jar. He gazed at it in astonishment, that creeping sense of déjà vu hitting him. “Pennies?”

“Yeah, the Stolls’ idea of payment. They didn’t even roll them, the bastards,” Nico grumbled with a sour look.

“And you’ve just been carrying these around all day?” Will asked as he stifled a smile, but found it difficult. Of course, Will thought. All of his dreams were coming true today. Well, hopefully not all of them, Will added with a wince. He certainly had one dream that he didn’t want to come true. But his batting average seemed to be too good. Just when you were feeling optimistic you have to go and bum yourself out, Will thought, resisting the urge to sigh. He needed to be more positive.

“I figured I would get Charon to roll them with me later,” Nico said sounding truly insulted. Thankfully noticing Will’s thoughts, and that comforted him a bit. “I won this fair and square and I intend to use it…eventually.”

“Pffft. That’s so lame,” Will said with a cackle.

“I am not lame!” Nico argued, flushed as he stood up. His cheeks ripened into a dark shade, that spread to his ears. “You watch, I’m going to destroy all of these games, win the best prizes and then you’ll be sorry for ever even considering me lame.”

“I’m watching, I’m watching,” Will promised him as he raised his hands in surrender. Nico huffed, seemingly placated, and Will lowered his hands. They cleared the table, and began the walk down to the games. “I don’t actually think you’re lame.”

“I know, you think I’m cool. You’re probably the only one. Well, besides Hazel. I guess I’ve managed to convince her that I’m cool,” Nico said as he put on his backpack. “Well, I would hope so.”

“My siblings think you’re a cool guy,” Will said before hopping in line for cotton candy. “And you’re a hero, so, you’ve certainly outclassed me.”

“Says the guy who reattached a kid’s arms?” Nico asked with a roll of his eyes. Will looked around, hoping that no one had heard Nico’s off-color comment. No one seemed concerned thankfully. Nico seemed to take little heed when it came to situation. It’s not like Nico couldn’t read the mood, the fact he had survived as a Roman Ambassador proved that he probably had a shrewd sense for politics. Nico was just stubborn, and liked to do things his way with little heed for the consequences. “Everyone else at camp gives me a hard time. Not that they do it to be mean, they just like messing with me.”

“I think you’re thinking of two specific people that like messing with you,” Will said. “Everyone else is a little too scared of you to really try doing that.”

“Well, I can’t let just anyone get away with that kind of thing. I do have a reputation to uphold. And besides, plotting the murders of two people is already hard enough,” Nico said breezily.

“I know you aren’t being serious, but still, I feel like I should warn Percy and Jason for their own self-preservation.”

Nico gave Will that teeth-baring grin, and Will shook his head with a smile of his own. Nico was independent, steadfast, focused, stubborn as a bull and hot headed. But he also had a strong sense of justice and fairness, to the point of self-sacrifice. Will honestly thought that Nico could do anything he put his mind to. Nico had helped to save the world, at almost the cost of himself, with no hesitation. And that was all besides the fact that he was absolutely one of the cutest boys that Will believed had ever lived or breathed on this earth. That fact was just an added bonus, and Will thought he would have fallen for Nico regardless. 

Fallen…for…

Will really liked him, Will thought as he blushed, tucking a curl behind his ear and trying not to sneak glances at Nico while ignoring the telltale heat in his face. Nico seemed absorbed with people watching as they moved in line, so thankfully he didn’t notice Will’s gazes. Will really liked Nico. This was the best first date he had ever been on…though he had only been on two counting this one. He wanted this date to last forever, even if that was totally embarrassing and childish. Who knew that just walking around with someone and hanging out could be so much fun? Even if it was just sitting and eating lunch with Nico, he was having more fun then he could remember having. And wasn’t that supposed to be what liking someone meant? It meant enjoying spending time with a person, and never wanting that time to end if you could help it.

So what did that all mean? Was he in love with Nico? Just the thought of it made him woozy. Love was a really really strong word. Maybe he wasn’t ready for that…he hadn’t quite steeled his heart for love and everything that came with it. Love was hard for demigods, and considering his father’s track record Will knew not to expect anything different for him. This was all besides the fact that he was totally jumping the gun. Will didn’t even know how Nico felt, his emotions were almost a mystery to Will. And could Will bear falling in love with Nico only to get his heart broken? Was he strong enough? Will wondered—

Nico suddenly shoved a bag of cotton candy in Will’s chest, effectively breaking his line of thoughts.

“I hope you like strawberry,” Nico told him and a huff.

“I love it,” Will said with a smile, shaking off his lingering doubts as he reached back out for Nico’s hand and took it.

* * *

The spent the way back to Camp Half-Blood much like they had gone, just chatting. Nico let Will swing their hands together in the rhythm that they walked, half-heartedly complaining as he did so. Nico carried a new teddy bear he had won under one arm as they emerged from the Labyrinth. The sun was just beginning to set, but Will was grateful for the peak he got. Being underground really gave him with creeps.

“Here,” Nico said, dropping Will’s hand from his own and then offering him the teddy bear. “I don’t really need it, and if you don’t want it then maybe you can give it to Violet…or something.”

“I’m going to cherish this until I die. You’ll have to bury me with this,” Will told Nico very seriously as he hugged the teddy bear to his chest.

“Holy Hera—why are you like this?” Nico groaned. “So freaking dramatic.”

“I’m a son of Apollo, it’s what I do. But seriously, I had a really good time today,” Will told him as he swallowed and gathered up his courage. “Could we…could we do it again? A date, I mean. Go on another date.”

“Another date?” Nico asked, his eyes wide. “I mean…you want to?”

“Absolutely! If…if that’s fine with you?” Will asked, kicking himself for being so excited at the prospect before Nico even agreed.

“I…yeah,” Nico said, looking down at his boots. “I…I had a good time too.”

“Good, that’s good,” Will said as he felt his face redden. “I…I’m going to go back to my cabin. I’ll see you at the fire tonight?”

“Okay,” Nico said, looking up from beneath his bangs.

Would it be weird to ask to kiss him? Will thought as he rocked back on his heels, the urge to mash his face against Nico’s stronger than Will thought it would be. He had enjoyed holding Nico’s hand so much, kissing Nico…feeling his lips against Will’s, it probably would be incredible. Will would probably faint again. No, no he couldn’t. It was only their first date. And Nico had just agreed to a second one, so it had to have gone well. Will couldn’t mess it up by kissing Nico so suddenly. Besides, maybe there would be a good chance at some point when the mood was right. 

Strategy, Will thought. It was all about strategy.

“I-I’ll see you later!” Will said before he ran off in the direction of his cabin. As soon as he was out of Nico’s line of sight, he hopped, skipped, jumped, and then screamed with joy into his newly acquired teddy bear. He got back to his cabin and found it suspiciously empty, as he placed his teddy bear next to the plants. Will went off to find his brothers and sisters, half running into them as they exited the music classes.

“How did it go?” Kayla demanded excitedly, Violet was currently grabbing onto Will’s arm and jumping up and down. Antonio and Emma hung back nervously. Austin rushed up beside them to hear the news.

“I got a second date,” Will said as he flashed a thumbs up. His entire cabin cheered, Austin took the bottle of ginger ale he was holding, shook it, and then opened it (spraying Antonio who yelped and tripped over a rock). As Antonio chased Austin around, Emma hugged Will tightly.

“We knew you could do it!” Emma told him earnestly. “I’m so happy for you.”

“Thanks guys, all of you,” Will said, grabbing his younger brothers by the collars, and then pulling them into a hug. They apparently truced and then reciprocated. “I’m glad you guys at least had some faith in me. So what did you guys get up to, today? Where did you tell Chiron me and Nico were by the way?” 

“Uh…about that…”

“Ah, Will! There you are,” Chiron called, looking strangely suspicious. “Are you done with your preparations?”

“Preparations?” Will asked in return, casting a glance to his siblings who seemed determined not to look at him. 

“Well, I only guessed you would be heading over there now. Everyone’s gathered from your Campfire Sing A-long,” Chiron said as he waved and walked off first. Will turned to his siblings, crossing his arms over his chest and tapping his feet on the ground.

“What did you do?” Will demanded of them.

“Well, he asked where you were!” Antonio whined. “We had to come up with something. We just told him that you were preparing a special song for tonight.”

“What?” Will cried.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine,” Austin told him with a pat on the shoulder. “We brought out different instruments, so it’s whatever you want to do.”

“Oh my Gods, guys, you know I can’t do music!” Will bemoaned. Kayla just sighed heavily, as if dealing with Will’s earthly concerns were a mere trifle.

“Everything’ll work out. Or it won’t and you’ll embarrass yourself in front of your new boyfriend. No worries,” Kayla told him.

“I take everything back. You are all awful—and he’s not my boyfriend!”

“Yet!” his family chorused back at him. Will stomped off to the firepit where all the cabins had gathered for the songs. His siblings had set up a good array of instruments, obviously trying to give Will options. All the other kids from Camp Half-Blood cheered at their arrival. Nico had taken a seat with Percy and Annabeth and Jason, and just his gaze made Will shiver.

Gods, just when you go and get a boy to agree to a second date you have to make a fool in front of him, Will thought miserably.

“Since you’re brothers and sisters told me that you spent all day preparing for our camp fire sing a-long, I suppose it’s only right to have you kick us off tonight, Will,” Chiron said with a raised eyebrow. The fire was already roaring tall and proud, and the sky had taken on its violet-blue twilight hue. Will just needed to get this over with. He sighed as his eye caught a glint of gold.

“Um…yeah, of course,” Will said as he scooped up the battle ukulele and began strumming it while desperately going through his repertoire of songs before wincing and beginning the only melody he could come up with, with a sheepish smile. “Uh…this is a classic song known as the…uh… _Campfire Song Song._ ”

“I’ve never heard it,” Chiron said confused but interested.

“Wait is he being serious?” Kayla hissed under her breath as Emma jabbed her in the ribs. Will cleared his throat as he continued to strum the chords, quickly going over the words in his head and just praying that he could make it work.

“ _Let’s gather round the campfire and sing our campfire song! Our C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E-S-O-N-G Song, and if you don’t think that we can sing it faster than you’re wrong, but it’ll help if you just sing along_ ,” Will sang but also ordered his siblings. 

“Bum, bum, bum!” Violet added excitedly.

“ _C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E-S-O-N-G Song C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E-S-O-N-G Song -and-if-you-don’t-think-that-we-can-sing-it-faster-than-you’re-wrong-but-it’ll-help-if-you-just-sing-along!_ ”

“ _C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E-S-O-N-G Song C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E-S-O-N-G Songandifyoudon’tthinkthatwecansingitfasterthanyou’rewrongbutit’llhelpifyoujustsingalong!_ ” Hermes Cabin literally screamed back with more gusto then Will could ever recall the cabin having during any of their Camp Fire Sing A-Longs. No matter, Will took it and ran with it and kept strumming. Suddenly everyone in Ares Cabin, which had apparently taken the challenge personally, stood up and bellowed,

“ _C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E-S-O-N-G SONG C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E-S-O-N-G SONGANDIFYOUDON’TTHINKTHATWECANSINGITFASTERTHANYOU’REWRONGBUTIT’LLHELPIFYOUJUSTSINGALONG!_ ”

“ _C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E-S-O-N-GSong—AUSTIN!_ ”

“ _SONG C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E-S-O-N-G SONG!_ ” Austin repeated back, pounding out a rhythm on his snare drum.

“Nico!” Will called. Nico stared at him in confusion and disbelief as Will strummed through the pause. Percy burst into laughter, falling over onto Annabeth who caught her boyfriend and shook her head. “ _Good! IT’LL HELP, IT’LL HEEEEEEEELP IF YOU JUST SING ALONG! OH YEAH!_ ”

Cecil yanked Will’s battle ukulele out of his hands and bashed it over the log and split it into two, the sparks setting it ablaze. Lou Ellen screamed and kicked the suddenly flaming shards into the fire. Ares Cabin (headed by Sherman and observed by a very entertained Clarisse) grabbed the cooler of bug juice, and then dumped it onto Aphrodite Cabin like they were celebrating a game winning touchdown. Pollux jumped from a bench and began crowd surfing, Damien White and Jake Mason ripped off their shirts and began flexing, while Athena Cabin threw food and jeered, Katie and Miranda kept Laurel and Holly from running over and showing them who could do the better shirtless flex. Popcorn kernels hit Jason Grace in his face and he popped it with his electricity while he yelled about getting it in his eyes while Piper attempted to control her laughter at her boyfriend’s trouble while also trying to calm down her frenzied cabin mates.

“Righteous tunes,” Clovis said as he patted Will’s shoulder before slouching against Butch who with a yelp pushed him onto Paolo who fell over backwards with him and hit their heads. Iris Cabin rushed over to try to be of assistance. Chiron was overlooking the chaos as if he wasn’t quite sure what to do with all of them.

“Gods, I love this place,” Will said with a slightly sore throat.

“It certainly has its own charms,” Nico conceded as he sat down next to Will, not moving away when Will leaned against him, only sighing contentedly.


	11. Correlation or Causation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Well, since starting anything with Nico di Angelo obviously isn’t going to go anywhere, and I had no idea why, I…I guess I’m just not going to go for it. If I tried it would be a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Will said as he waved off Cecil. “I mean, how hard could not falling for one boy be?”
> 
> In the aftermath of the battle Will has a strange dream, one that seems to predict his heart being broken by Nico di Angelo. The only problem being, Will has only really talked to him once. Will makes up his mind then and there that falling in love with a boy that will only end up breaking his heart is the last thing he will do. Or so he hopes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s here, finally! I hope you are all ready, because I know I am! Just a reminder, this fic is only very slightly canon divergent (Will having visions of the future, and I take a few liberties with some of the time line). Just a head’s up as a reminder for that.

The infirmary that day was empty, and the emptiness was eating at Will until it was nearly impossible for him to function. If he had something to do, then the silence would have been bearable. Will often found that keeping one’s hands busy was the secret to keeping the mind off of unpleasantness. But Will, as always, had terrible luck. So therefore, he was bored and dwelling on things that were probably left alone. Will spun in his chair, playing with the beads on his necklace nervously as he turned. Kayla looked at him from the desk, unimpressed with his fidgeting as Austin tapped out the bass line of Feel Good Inc with pens on a nearby chair while he listened to music on his ipod. Finally Will put his feet down, literally, stopping himself mid-swing. Both his brother and sister stared at him as Will placed his hands on his knees and offered up a sigh of defeat.

“Nico’s totally avoiding me isn’t he?”

“Took him long enough to admit it,” Austin noted as he popped a headphone from his ear. Kayla just primly rested her head on her hands and seemingly waited for Will to continue. Will groaned and leaned back.

“I thought I was just imagining things!” Will complained as he squinted up at the ceiling. “I don’t even know what I did. I thought our date went really well, he even agreed to go on another one! Gods, I must have done something. Maybe I was too hasty. What if I just was being an idiot and assuming things? Oh Gods what if he thinks I’m doing some weird peer pressure thing to him—?”

“Alright, slow down,” Kayla said as she held out her hands. “How about we don’t go into Apollo Panic Mode and try to think.” 

“Don’t tell me not to go into Apollo Panic Mode! You were just in Apollo Panic Mode when you thought Holly and Laurel shot better than you at archery!”

“Okay that is neither here nor there, let’s deal with your problems before you drive everyone crazy!”

Will had the urge to whine. To say he didn’t want to, to throw a hissy fit and then bury himself under some covers and avoid the world. Maybe binge on chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream with Lou and Cecil, maybe watch some bad TV dramas with Nyssa and Billie, maybe he could cry on Miranda’s shoulder, throw rocks into the lake with Clarisse, rant to Butch or Pollux, hide in Hypnos Cabin and just nap his days away, cry into the phone to his mom or his grandpa. There really were innumerable options in front of him. Honestly, he was a lucky guy. He had family. He had so many wonderful friends at camp. This bud, this fledgling relationship with Nico hadn’t even made it to autumn so it had to be doomed. What would be the point of trying to continue on with it?

But Will also wanted to kiss Nico. At least once.

“I don’t really know what happened. Everything seemed fine at the campfire. But after that…I don’t know, he’s just been distant. Like, he used to follow us along to our activities and he’s not doing that anymore. Maybe I just was going too fast for him, maybe I was just too overeager,” Will admitted softly, flicking a paperclip.

“Well, maybe the best thing is to give Nico space,” Kayla offered sympathetically. “I mean, it’s not like he’s out to the whole camp. Maybe he’s just processing.”

“Yeah,” Will said, attempting to brush aside the disappointment. He supposed that rushing forward foolheartedly probably wasn’t the best idea sometimes.

“Doesn’t your counselor meeting start in a little bit?” Austin asked him, and Will mustered up his best smile.

“Yeah, I should head over. Hold down the fort for me alright?” Will asked his siblings who both nodded. Will tried to ignore their all-too-understanding looks as he left.

Ever since the influx of cabins and campers that had occurred post-Titan War, they had moved head counselor meetings from the Big House to the Pavilion. Will was sure when most of the campers left camp the next week and fall really descended on Long Island, they would move back. But for now, the audience of counselors ranged from longtime campers such as himself, Jake Mason, and Pollux, to newcomers like the Victor siblings, recently claimed Paolo, and newly elected Butch and Piper. It certainly made for an interesting hodge-podge. Noticeably Nico was absent. Percy and Jason, who both occupied cabins of only themselves sat together playing paper football while Piper observed and added commentary to the ongoing battle.

“Where’s Nico at?” Katie asked in their direction as Clarisse unslung Clovis from her shoulder and placed him on the table where he snoozed contentedly in his sleeping bag. 

“He got a Iris message from Camp Jupiter. Something about the assembly I think Hazel wanted his opinion on,” Percy said with a shrug before seeing Annabeth approach with her arms full of blueprints he got up to help her. Though Annabeth made a show of looking irritated, she allowed Percy to hold some of her things. Will tried to ignore the mix of relief and disappointment he felt.

The rest of the counselor meeting, as usual devolved rather quickly. Annabeth was presenting to the counselors the different plans she had worked up in order to provide new cabins for the newly claimed campers. Hermes Cabin on the whole was fully throwing their support behind any measure that would get kids out of their already overcrowded cabin as fast as possible. While cabins like Demeter cabin (who were also speaking for the dryads) were against clearing any more forest than necessary, and Hephaestus argued about the onus of construction work that would be placed on them. The different types of arraignments were also a point of contention. Hypnos Cabin, a new cabin that was boasting already three campers with more likely to come from other countries argued the necessity of space (with a rather impassioned Clovis who only fell asleep once), while Paolo, Chiara, and Damien who were all by themselves seemed to be fine with the tree houses or tiny houses plan.

By the end of the meeting, no compromise had been met. But at least the plans were out. Each Cabin was ordered to take a poll of their occupants and choose the plan that they all liked the most before they would reconvene. After the meeting, Will stayed with Annabeth to help her clean up while the others all went to make sure their younger siblings hadn’t caused any damage. 

“Will, I don’t understand how you expect the additions to make sense if we allot more space then this,” Annabeth said as she pointed out to the plans for the tiny cabins. 

“And I’m just saying, we don’t know how many children these minor gods have. I feel that it would be premature to commit to a tiny house design without considering that,” Will told Annabeth with a sigh. “Everyone deserves a little space for themselves. I mean, we barely go a week without the Victor sisters almost setting their cabin on fire as it is.” 

Annabeth looked at Will, grey eyes glinting. Her gaze was serious, as always, and Will met it. He liked Annabeth a lot, but sometimes found her to be a little on the intense side. A little too all or nothing. But her penchant for ass-kicking was something that Will admired, even if it was his butt she wanted to kick. She sighed, seemingly content for the moment and leaned back. She massaged her temples and Will found himself moving close and offering his hands. Annabeth gave him a weak, grateful smile before sliding a chair close to him. 

Just pressing his fingers against Annabeth’s temples gave Will the sensation of a tightening cord ready to snap. The start of a tension headache. Will pulled off her hair tie which was doing her head no favors and placing it on his wrist before slowly focusing on pressing the pads of his fingers against the back of her neck and pulling up to her head. He spent time to gently add pressure and release, and become acquainted with Annabeth’s muscle movements. Then, once that was all established, he began rubbing little circles from the base of her skull to her ear, applying pressure on the scalp, and massaging temples and forehead, his power welling up and soothing. 

“You have the most convenient power,” Annabeth muttered as her head fell foreword to allow Will to rub her neck and massage the back of her head.

“As convenient as a certain wisecracking aqua boy we know?” Will asked amused as he worked out a specific knot. Annabeth, like most children of Athena, kept all their stress in the head and neck. Considering their mother’s history with headaches, it wasn’t all too surprising. “I think not.” 

“I don’t think you have much interest in the ocean, how useful would you find Percy’s powers?” Annabeth asked with a raised brow.

“True, true. But does the interest occur as a correlation or causation when the power is present?” Will offered. Annabeth was seemingly struck by this line of thought, tapping her foot as her eyes glinted. 

“It’s never occurred to me,” Annabeth muttered under her breath. “It’s fascinating to think about, really. The implications I mean.”

“I’m not sure the others would think of a lack of free will in the same regards,” Will chuckled. 

“I’ll have to run this by Malcolm. He’s always thrilled to have a sound board on philosophy. I don’t tend to have much of a sustained interest in the subject,” Annabeth said as she stretched, and Will handed back her hair tie. 

“Well, I try not to think about things like that too much,” Will admitted as Annabeth stood up and cracked her neck. “In our lives, big questions don’t often beget rewards.”

“Isn’t that the truth?” Annabeth said as she looked out towards the camp finishing tying up her hair. Will watched as her curls bounced, rather cutely Will had to admit. “I sometimes wonder how much our parents have to do with our natures.”

Will didn’t have much to say about that. Will had never even met Apollo before, only seen him flash by in his chariot during the Battle of Manhattan. He had received a letter from him once, a few birthday cards, had gotten claimed by him. All of these were more than some demigods ever received, but he still had no real clue of what his father was like. He had heard the stories from Percy and Thalia about his father’s bombastic and dramatic nature. Had spoken to Rachel briefly about her relationship with Apollo as the god of prophecy, though since the last war Apollo had gone silent. A punishment by Zeus still probably in the works. At times Will wondered if he should be worried for Apollo. Well, certainly he was worried since Apollo was the sun god and the world couldn’t survive without the sun. But Will found he really couldn’t worry about Apollo as his actual father, because Apollo wasn’t in his life. He was just a flash across the distant sky.

Will wondered how much of him was like Apollo. Will knew he shared a smile with all of his siblings, habits, tastes. Will really doubted Apollo ever concerned himself with Will Solace and his siblings, but he had never been able to say that to any of them. After all, when Lee and Michael had died, not once did Apollo make himself known. Did Will have that ugly selfish side of him somewhere deep down? Will hoped not. He really did.

“I hope they don’t have much,” Will finally concluded, seemingly surprising Annabeth in his answer. “I don’t think I could bear it.”

“I know what you mean,” Annabeth admitted before finishing placing her blueprints in her box. “Tell me something, what’s going on between you and Nico.”

“Uh, what do you mean?” Will asked, taken aback by the sudden shift in conversation to another topic that Will didn’t really want to think about at that moment.

“Listen, me and Nico have had our own issues, but we’re good now. He’s been doing really well since he began tagging along with you and your cabin. But Percy mentioned to me that Nico’s been kinda down lately…and that has to be more so than usual mind you if even Percy’s picked up on it. So I was just wondering if you and Nico had gotten into a fight.”

“We didn’t get into a fight,” Will said as he nudged a leaf with his sandal before sighing. “I asked him out on a date.”

“Oh. Oh,” Annabeth said, obviously taken aback. “You asked Nico on a date? I mean—you know—”

“Yeah. I uh…I like Nico. A lot,” Will told her as he watched the leaf be dragged across the dirt by a breeze. “We went on one date, and I asked him on another. He’s been acting weird since then.”

“Okay, this…this all makes sense to me,” Annabeth told him as she shifted her weight between her feet obviously deep in thought. Will swore he could see the gears clicking and moving in her head, as she catalogued everything she knew into different places. “I do have to say, I didn’t think that after Percy he would go with a guy like you. Even though he swore up and down that Percy wasn’t his type, I kind of expected him to go with a guy more like Percy. Maybe a Hermes Cabin kid or an Ares Cabin kid.”

“I know,” Will said with a chuckle as he picked up Annabeth’s box. “I told him something similar.”

“If it means anything to you, I think you are good for Nico,” Annabeth said as gave him a look and Will handed her box to her. “I think you and Nico are pretty similar in some ways. It makes sense that you guys would get along.”

“You think so?” Will asked Annabeth curiously, and she just shrugged.

“I don’t really buy the whole opposites attract thing. People are always saying that about me and Percy, but me and Percy are a lot alike. Like, I don’t think I could date a guy who is okay just sitting around doing nothing. Percy may put up the front, but he’s always ready to go all in with me no matter what. And I’m always willing to do the same for him. I think that’s important, and that’s just one example. You and Nico are both serious when it comes to your responsibilities. And if anyone has seen either of you interacting with your siblings, you would know you guys were on the same wavelength,” Annabeth explained. “But of course, Nico’s a different person than you so you would need to take that into consideration.”

“What do you mean?”

“Have you told Nico that you like him?”

Will stopped midstep.

“Told…Nico?” Will repeated, dumbfounded.

“Nico’s dense, Will. But more than that, he psyches himself out constantly. Nico’s probably thinking all sorts of worst case scenario stuff right now. You need to set the record straight, tell him that you like him.”

“Oh my gods you are so right. I haven’t been following my own advice,” Will said in shock before tossing Annabeth a smile. “Though there is nothing straight about this situation.”

“Holy Hera, really Will? Really?” Annabeth asked with her patent Chase glare.

“You really can’t blame me, you totally walked yourself into that one,” Will said with a wink.

“Stop flirting with me and go talk to Nico. You have to.”

“I do. I have to go tell him,” Will realized, his heart racing so fast in his chest that he could hear it in his ears. “I have to tell Nico that I like him.”

“I agree—”

It was at that moment that an ear-piercing scream came from the center of the camp. Annabeth dropped the box, and Will and her raced to the center of camp. Nyssa was comforting a nearly hysterical Harley on the ground as Nico held up a scroll that had seemingly floated in on the breeze. A holographic Leo Valdez, riding on Festus’ back with a brunette beauty by his side like the cover of a terrible romance novel for moms had appeared at the center of campus. The image spluttered and faded with static but by the time Will and Annabeth were within hearing distance Will caught,

“Love ya guys! Adios amigos, oh! And get ready for a taco party when I return!”

And with that the imagine cut out, leaving a stunned silence in its wake. Nico pulled his hand down which had been shaking and nearly crushing the parchment in his hand but Will clearly saw that Nico was shaking—no, seething, no erupting with rage. His usually colorless eyes were terrifying black pits, his teeth were gritted, and he was steaming up the late summer air with puffs of cold.

“ _I am going to murder Leo Valdez_ ,” Nico announced his murderous intent before the various witnesses. Some of them nodded obviously very understanding of the sentiment, others like Percy and Jason face-palmed as the chaos continued to erupt.

“Uh…maybe I’ll tell him later. When he’s feeling less…homicidal,” Will told Annabeth as he swallowed.

“Probably a good idea,” Annabeth noted before jogging off to inform her cabin of what had just gone down.

* * *

“Why is he so angry?” asked Sherman and when he received the weird looks he shrugged. “Just because I’m a child of Ares it doesn’t mean I’m always angry without a reason. For example I’m always mad at Ellis because he’s a dumbass all the time.” 

“Shut the fuck up,” Ellis grumbled, casting Cecil a look as Cecil cackled under his breath. Lou Ellen jabbed him in the ribs 

“I think that’s why,” Lou Ellen pointed out. 

Harley was still crying against Nyssa’s shoulder softly. Nyssa and Jake Mason sat red eyed and shocked. Nico was pacing beyond as Percy attempted to reason with him quietly. It all felt rather like some kind of late season twist like you would find in a show DeGrassi or Glee or any other trashy high school drama. But Will had to hand it to Leo, he definitely knew how to announce his comeback. 

“Nico, I know you would probably feel much better if you went all stabby mcStabberson on Leo with your scary stabby sword, but has it occurred to you that it would just kill Leo again?” Percy asked him, half-understanding, half on the verge of nervous laughter. 

“Oh but I do. I do want to kill Leo and make sure he stays dead this time,” Nico said with glee before bearing his teeth. “He. Made. My. Sister. Cry. I can’t let him keep breathing. I have my honor to uphold, so I need to utterly destroy him.” 

“Really Nico? You can’t kill Leo!” 

“Can I disembowl him?” 

“No.”

“Skin him?”

“No.” 

“Tear out his still beating heart and sacrifice it on the altar of my father? Use his blood as finger paint?”

“No Nico, though I give you an A for creativity.” 

“This is why I hate this place,” Nico snapped. “All of you are so sensitive about perfectly reasonable things like manslaughter.”

“Stop being a murderous whiny baby!” Percy told him. 

“Why don’t you make me you—“

The Grecian swear Nico used was so foul that Nyssa yelped and clapped her hands over Harley’s ears. Will lunged forward and grabbed Nico’s shoulder and physically got between both Percy and Nico before they could do something stupid like bring the whole camp down around their ears with their collective power. Sherman and Ellis looked rather disappointed, but Lou Ellen and Cecil held them back from joining the fray.

“Okay that’s enough!” Will demanded. “Nico you come with me. Right now—don’t even think about arguing with me so don’t open your mouth a single centimeter. If you do I swear you’ll be speaking in limericks for the next month Apollo protect me! Percy, go cool down in the lake!” 

“Where are we even going?!” Nico demanded as Will grabbed his arm and trudged with him through camp. Will didn’t dare look back, or else he would definitely lose his nerve. No matter how brave he wanted to feel, the cold emanating from Nico like an air-conditioner on full blast was very intimidating. Finally they got to the nearly deserted training grounds. Will pushed Nico in front of a training dummy and handed him a sword from the rack.

“There. You want to stab, stab the dummy. Get out your anger,” Will ordered as he pointed to the dummy, hoping Nico wouldn’t decide that he was a better dummy to stab. Nico stared at Will incredulously before turning to the training dummy. The first few thwacks were half-hearted, but Nico’s hits soon took on a savage angry edge. Every hit Will could imagine bone breaking or puncturing muscle or tearing of skin. Eventually Nico had to slow down, breathing heavily and still glaring forward while not giving Will any sign of his weakness as he went through positions seamlessly, but he was no longer 10 below.

“This is stupid,” Nico spat towards the very beaten practice dummy. 

“I don’t understand why you are so angry, but you are and here we are,” Will said as he sat on a log.

“You don’t understand,” Nico growled, whirling on Will. “Leo is out there trapezing around and you don’t understand?”

“He’s alive! You should be happy. You even said that he would be coming back,” Will said as he threw his hands in the air. “Honestly, Nico. What is going on with you?”

“Happy? Happy that…that idiot died, leaving only pain for those who loved him and thought he was dead, only to send some sort of half-baked message like that?” Nico demanded of Will. “What about my sister—my sister who agonized over Leo? Why didn’t he rush back for her? Or his siblings? Or anyone else?”

“He obviously went back for that girl.”

“Ha. He went back for Calypso. How fitting. The two of them ducking their fates and riding off into the sunset,” Nico said as he stabbed at the ground angrily as if imagining their faces there.

“So that’s it? You’re mad because of that? You aren’t mad because he hurt your feelings?” Will asked him calmly, brushing aside the fact that Nico was saying that somehow Leo had gotten Calypso, the famed nymph, to fall in love with him. Now that was a story Will wanted to hear at some point, if Nico didn’t kill him first.

“I don’t have any feelings,” Nico snarked as he threw the sword he was holding back in the pile.

“Nico—”

“Gods, why can’t anyone just stay. For the sake of the gods, why does everyone just have to go and—“ Nico muttered under his breath before grinding his teeth. “But obviously I’m just crazy, right? _Everyone just loves me._ No one was ever uncomfortable with me and wanted me to leave, right? Everything is just peachy keen. It’s just all in Nico di Angelo’s head, he’s just some wacky child of Hades, he’s just crazy. He’s not allowed to be hurt, or angry, or anything because he’ll just blow everything for everyone with his uncontrollable powers.”

“Nico, is this about the battle? What I said to you?” Will asked, totally floored at the sudden change. There was a growing pit in his stomach, as flashes of childbirth, Half-Blood Hill torn by the battle, and a pale and ghostly Nico di Angelo came back to him. “When I was telling you to stay?”

“Just forget it—”

“No, I won’t,” Will said firmly. He swallowed, trying to work past the suddenly lump in his throat. Will was ashamed and he could barely breathe. “I…I’ve never meant to tell you that how you felt wasn’t valid. How you feel is important to me. Really, it is. I’m…I’m so sorry that the way I said things made you feel otherwise. Oh Gods, I’m a total asshole. You must think I’m an absolute asshole.”

“Wait, what’s happening—are you crying?” Nico demanded, sounding horrified.

“No,” Will lied, equally embarrassed as he rubbed his face. Will was just as horrified at his sudden show of emotion as Nico was, his face was hot and his tears were warm and he wanted to crawl into a hole and stay there forever. “Yes.”

“ _Oooh my gods_ , di immortales, please, please stop crying,” Nico begged Will. “Oh gods I hate it when you cry. Please stop crying. This is my fault, it has to be my fault.”

“No, it’s my fault! It’s all my fault because I’m an idiot,” Will said impassioned at his utter stupidity. Suddenly everything was so clear to him. Nico wouldn’t break up with him because of anything that Nico found wrong with Will. It would be because Will was too caught up in himself and what he was feeling to be good for him. “I haven’t considered your feelings, not really, this whole time and I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

“I…I forgive you,” Nico said slowly, but with feeling. “I do.”

“Is this why you’ve been avoiding me?” Will asked him softly.

“I…no…kind of…it’s complicated,” Nico said as his hands hung by his sides limply. “I just…I had a lot of fun on our date, Will. But I…there’s probably other people that you would rather go on dates with and…you are so nice to me. I just don’t want to feel like I’m being a burden on you.”

“Nico?”

“Yeah?”

“You aren’t a burden on me. I didn’t go on that date with you because I’m nice. I went on that date with you and I want to keep going on dates with you because I like you.”

* * *

Will woke up feeling chilled, sighing heavily. He didn’t want to get up yet, as his blankets and quilts were so utterly and deliciously warm, but finally Will forced himself out from the bed. The air was chilled, and Will enjoyed the scent of autumn was on the wind as he walked to the infirmary. It wasn’t like there was anyone in the infirmary, but there was a Keurig, and with a Keurig there was coffee.

He sat at the stoop of the Big House, sipping his coffee and watching the sky turn pearly, the edges just beginning the lighten in dawn. The sun was calling to him, and he waited patiently for it to rise as his coffee wafted and steamed in the air.

“Good morning Will,” Chiron said, hooves clopping as he stood beside him.

“Good morning,” Will greeted the teacher. “It’s a beautiful sunrise isn’t it?”

“That it is,” Chiron hummed, taking a sip of his own coffee as he rubbed his beard thoughtfully. “It has been a long time since I’ve enjoyed a sunrise, but I find no better company than the one I share with right now for it.”

“Now you’re just buttering me up for something,” Will said with an attempt at teasing, but his heart wasn’t really in it. He let his smile fall from his face, and continued to gaze ahead thoughtfully as the sky began to turn orange, brushstrokes of red deepening against the darkness and brightening with a shock of color. From there one could see the horizon stark against the sea, opening up the world to a bright new day. Will was so absorbed in his thoughts that he barely caught what Chiron was saying to him.

“Will, I believe I heard something about you and Nico,” Chiron said, and Will frowned as he wished he hadn’t heard Chiron at all.

“Oh,” Will said slowly, resisting his urge to blow bubbles in his coffee, however Will couldn’t bring himself to be rude to Chiron or duck the question. Chiron, who had let Will stay, who had taught Will how to suture a wound and perform an appendectomy and who seemingly knew Will better than he knew himself was someone he couldn’t lie to that easily. “Uh…yeah, that’s not happening. I kind of messed everything up, as usual.”

“As usual? I was under the impression that you only truly attempted to romance one girl previous,” Chiron said with an arched brow.

“Uh…Chiron, please, if we could avoid any blows to my ego I would be real grateful,” Will drawled slowly. 

“I didn’t mean to—” Chiron cut himself off and seemingly reformulated whatever he wanted to say, his hind quarters shifted and plodded nervously on the ground. “I do not have extensive experience with romantic issues. Granted, the only romance that I’ve been involved with is the romance of other demigods with each other, and even then I preferred to stay out of it. Forgive me for my lack of tact.”

“You are forgiven,” Will promised Chiron immediately, not having it in his heart to hold that against Chiron. “I guess I just don’t really know what to do. I made my feelings as clear as possible, but Nico just kind of…well, he freaked out and ran off. Maybe I was just too forward, but what else could I have done? I wanted him to know how I feel, but I’m sorry if I sprung it on him. Though, I don’t think he’ll appreciate my apology after my sudden declaration of love.”

“Love? I see, love.”

“Yeah.” 

“I have to admit,” Chiron said as he obviously hid a smile, “that part of you is from your father. No one has more of a penchant for sudden declarations of love than he does.”

“Oh, great, and those seem to always go so well for him,” Will grumbled under his breath. “Well, thankfully my track record isn’t that bad. No one’s turned into a plant yet.”

“Well, this is also true,” Chiron chuckled before placing a hand on Will’s shoulder. “But as I was saying before, if I may give you some advice Will? In manners of the heart, it is valid to plunge forward recklessly. Some people can’t do that, and must take a moment to stop and think. Give Nico time to think.”

“You think he might come around? Or at least forgive me?” Will asked, recalling Nico retreating back to his cabin after his declaration without a single word, just a pale white ghost. As far as Will knew, he hadn’t once emerged from the cabin the whole rest of the day or night, and as far as anyone could tell he may or may not have even been at Camp Half-Blood anymore.

“I can’t say. But I’ll have you know, I’ve given this advice to your brothers before.”

“Great, which ones?” Will asked as he watched the waves crash against the shore from the distance, the waves of long grass being tussled gently.

“Michael and Lee, at different times of course,” Chiron said, the look on his face fond and gentle. Will had meant his comment as a joke, but suddenly he felt that lump return to his throat. Michael and Lee were hardly ever talked about by anyone, except to talk about how they died. Will had almost forgotten that they had lived outside the sacred place in his heart he had built for them. “Wait for Nico’s response patiently, Will. Wait for him, and listen to him well when the time comes. And when it does, you will choose how it plays out for you. But know that I am rooting for you, Will Solace.”

Will smiled the best he could before he finished sipping his coffee and promised that he would talk to Chiron later. He returned the mug to the proper sink before deciding that the best thing he could do would be to head back to his cabin. He could wake up his siblings, get going on the day—

“Will.”

Will yelped, tripped on a tree root and promptly wiped out. He groaned as he managed to pull himself up, before looking back to see Nico staring at him half-emerged from the shadows. He was pale except for the shadows that ridged around his eyes, he looked generally grungy like he had been for a long and sweaty hike in the woods, his clothing was disheveled and slightly torn.

“Oh my gods, you look terrible,” Will blurted out.

“Oh, wow, thanks,” Nico said with a grimace that pulled hard as his lips.

“What happened?” Will said, seeing blood dripping down his arm.

“I…uh…went for a run.”

“A run?” Will asked with a raised eyebrow. “And you got this beat up during a run?”

“I also might have run into a flock of Stymphalian birds on this run,” Nico explained. Will just sighed, put his head in his hands for a moment as he attempted to collect himself before pulling up to his feet.

“Well, come on then. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

Nico was quiet as he let Will lead them back to the infirmary. Nico took a shower in the bathroom while Will collected the supplies he would need for the first aid. None of Nico’s various scrapes, bruises, or cuts would need healing magic, but they did need disinfectant and gauze. Will worked robotically as he tended to Nico’s wounds. When he offered the unicorn draught, Nico didn’t complain, but when Will began lining up other products and ordered Nico to wash his face Nico was hesitant.

“Stop grumbling and rinse,” Will ordered, and Nico splashed his face free of the suds.

“I don’t understand why we’re doing this,” Nico grumbled as Will pulled back the headband to keep his hair from getting any wetter before drying his skin and then patting on the toner.

“Because a good skin care routine is important and will keep you from looking like death warmed over,” Will told Nico a matter-of factly as he grabbed the eye cream. “Close your eyes.”

“It’s cold,” Nico commented suspiciously, though he allowed Will to continue without biting his fingers off. “What does this have to do with healing?”

“In the humble words of a wise person, treat yo’self.”

“But isn’t ten steps excessive?”

“Okay, unless one is a certain gorgeous child of Aphrodite, bless her heart, one does not have perfect skin. We work for perfect skin. It’s a necessity.”

“You are just a vain child of Apollo. Normal people do not care about their skin this much.”

“Ha, please. Don’t make me laugh,” Will commented as he finished putting on the moisturizer. “There, you look like a human again.”

“I’m not a human though, neither are you,” Nico commented wryly as he pulled on his shirt.

“Then we are just both vaguely human shaped and we have a charade to uphold,” Will told him as he put away his things into their various shelves.

“You know, I didn’t really know what to expect when you told me to come here,” Nico said as he swung his legs, not unlike a child would. “I didn’t really know what to think about you either. You weren’t scared of me, you were easy to talk to. You were funny, but you took what I had to say seriously. When I found out I might have a chance, you know, when you were joking with Antonio that one time, and when I saw Nyssa and Billie together, I freaked because I was so surprised and happy. It’s stupid, but most of the people I like end up hating me so I tried to convince myself that it wasn’t worth it giving it a shot. Percy told me that sometimes you just got to dive in, but I can’t really do that. Whenever I do that someone always gets hurt. Eventually…I don’t know how or when, I’ll hurt you. I’ll be selfish and I’ll hurt you. But…but for some reason I felt like you might be able to handle it but then I suddenly got so terrified that I…so I…godsdamnit I’m not making any sense am I?”

Nico was glaring at the floor ferociously, as if the floor had just insult him, his father, his sister, and his dog. Will sat next to him on the bed, at the creak of the springs Nico looked up.

“I like you, Nico,” Will said, because that was all he could say. He looked towards Nico, hoping that a fraction of what he was feeling was being conveyed to him somehow. His words weren’t enough, but maybe the rest of it could be.

“You said that before,” Nico said with a glare and narrowed eyes.

“But I do,” Will argued. “I really, really like you.”

“Did you not hear anything I just said,” Nico demanded with a huff.

“I did. And I know, Nico. I already know that you’ll probably hurt me and I might hurt you, but I still like you,” Will promised Nico firmly. “Trust me, I know it better than anyone. I’ve been agonizing over that for a while now, but I’m ready for whatever happens, because I like you. Do you like me?”

“I…I do,” Nico answered.

“Then do you want to go out with me?” Will asked him curiously. 

“If you go out with me, I’m going to need a little bit of time…before we tell everyone. Just so I can get used to it,” Nico warned him.

“I can wait,” Will promised, grasping Nico’s hand. Nico squeezed his hand in return.


	12. Ease My Mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Well, since starting anything with Nico di Angelo obviously isn’t going to go anywhere, and I had no idea why, I…I guess I’m just not going to go for it. If I tried it would be a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Will said as he waved off Cecil. “I mean, how hard could not falling for one boy be?”
> 
> In the aftermath of the battle Will has a strange dream, one that seems to predict his heart being broken by Nico di Angelo. The only problem being, Will has only really talked to him once. Will makes up his mind then and there that falling in love with a boy that will only end up breaking his heart is the last thing he will do. Or so he hopes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The penultimate chapter of Break My Heart finally arrives. I honestly can’t believe the next chapter is the last chapter, it’s sort of crazy. Anyways, this is a lot of set up, end of the summer, making fun of Maine, zombie summoning, and first kisses. So, I hope everyone enjoys! 
> 
> Also yes the title is a song title by Hayley Kiyoko. Yes Will is totally obsessed with her. Fight me.

“I’m just saying you should throw the jacket in the lake. Or I can convince one of the satyrs to lend me the snowplow and I can accidentally take out the dock,” Cecil offered. “That way your dream can’t come true.”

“I’m not sure the nymphs would be okay with that plan,” Lou Ellen said as she took a sip of her Moxie that she had gotten in a care package from her dad. Cecil had opened his own and was taking experimental sips. Will had been stealing sips and still wasn’t entirely sure of the drink. Actually, he pretty sure that it was a Yank thing and that New Englanders were crazy. 

“I don’t think I would be okay with that plan either,” Will told them with a dreamy sigh as he thought about Nico for probably the hundredth time that day, but with the leather jacket on it was such pretty picture. “I like the leather jacket.”

“You are so extra,” Lou Ellen said, sounding exasperated.

“I know,” Will added with a probably very dopey looking grin. “But I love it.”

“So I guess due to Will’s inability to resist bad boys we’re all at an impasse,” Cecil said with a shrug.

“Hey,” Will said with narrowed eyes before he leaned back on the blanket and stared at the sky. The sky stared back at him, a forgiving robin’s egg blue, and clouds that were white and puffy passed by. Will sighed, letting his arms flop at his side. Lou Ellen poked his stomach, making Will huff and swat her away with a chuckle. “I’m just happy to let things go as they will.”

“Really? Really?” Cecil said, sounding not so convinced. “You are fine to just go with the flow? Are you sick or something? That is the least Will Solace-like thing I think I have ever heard you say.”

“Oh shut up, I’m very chill,” Will told him as he kicked out his leg to poke Cecil, who pretended to be injured and rolled dramatically off the blanket and onto the grass. He wiggled around much like a pony who had just gotten out of the stable. “You wish you were as chill as me.”

“But really Will? You are fine to let things be as they are,” Lou Ellen asked as she leaned over him, brushing a curl behind her ear. Her green eyes were concerned and Will tried to meet her gaze with a comforting smile. As far as he could tell, it didn’t really work to alleviate Lou Ellen’s very fair concerns. 

“What else can I do?” Will asked with a sigh. “Since when has messing with the fate the gods give us been a good idea? Everything will work out one way or another I think.”

“Amen to that Brother,” Cecil said as he clapped his hands together as if in prayer, returning to his spot on the blanket between the Mountain Dew and the Doritos. Will just scoffed at his friend’s ridiculousness.

“You are both impossible,” Lou Ellen said with a shake of her head before her gaze caught on something. Will sat up, following her gaze to where Jason Grace and Piper McLean were laughing and talking down by the dock. “And talking about impossible.”

“I thought you weren’t interested in girls,” Cecil asked as he propped his head up on his chin.

“I’m not all that interested in boys either, but if I was, now that’s a Big Three son that I can appreciate aesthetically if you catch my drift,” Lou Ellen said with a dramatical toss of her hair. “I wouldn’t mind putting a spell on him, that’s for sure. If I wouldn’t get in trouble with Chiron for not being responsible with the use of my magic that is.”

“He’s a relatively good-looking dude,” Cecil submitted for questioning. Lou Ellen stifled her cackles under her hand before clearing her throat of her burst of merriment.

“I wouldn’t say that in the vicinity of Ares Cabin or you might either break somebody’s heart or get a broken bone somewhere,” Lou Ellen warned him. Cecil just gave her a look before snagging a potato chip and crunching it annoyingly between his teeth.

“He’s… _decent_ ,” Will said before shrugging, “I think Piper’s way cuter though.”

“She does have the daughter of Aphrodite thing going for her,” Cecil pointed out. 

“That she really does, and the dad being famous thing,” Lou Ellen said.

“My mom’s famous,” Will said as he sat up. “And I have a parent who’s a god. Do I have that going for me?”

“But your dad’s Apollo and he sided with the Trojans soooo…” Cecil said before fist bumping Lou Ellen.

“Screw you guys—also didn’t Aphrodite like basically start the Trojan War?”

“Oh, hey,” a voice cut into their conversation. All three of them looked up from their stand-off to see a rather confused Jason Grace, his hand which was raised in a wave seemingly wilted under their attention. “Were you guys busy?”

“No, hey, what’s up?” Will said, giving his friends a warning look before turning his attention to Jason. He pushed his glasses up on the bridge of his nose, and shifted on his feet. He gave them all a rather hopeful look.

“Piper pawned some sandwiches and cookies off the dryads and we were both wondering if you guys wanted any?”

“Any Reubens?” Cecil asked for hopefully. 

“I think so,” Jason told him.

“I’m so there,” Cecil said as he stood up. “We got chips and cheese puffs and soda, why don’t we pull the blanket over there too?”

“Sounds good, I’ll go tell Piper,” Jason said as he went to relay the message. Will quickly folded up the blanket as Lou Ellen and Cecil packed up the snacks for transport. Jason and Piper had set up their stuff right by the dock, and Piper smiled as they spread their stuff out and joined them. Will snagged a turkey sandwich, while Piper cracked open a coke and took a swig. She immediately cringed.

“What is this?”

“Everyone needs to stop dissing my Moxie,” Lou Ellen grumbled as she took a vengeful looking gulp.

“It’s not our fault that you South-Canada folks have a wacky concept of what coke should taste like,” Will said.

“First off, don’t call Maine ‘South-Canada’, secondly it’s not even coke why do you call all soda coke?”

“I actually kind of like it. It tastes…well, if Coca Cola and Dr. Pepper had a baby or something,” Jason said as he bumped shoulders with Piper who just smiled up at him. The way that Jason smiled back at Piper like she was some kind of gift was ridiculously cute. Alright, Will sort of had to grudgingly admit Jason Grace was really cute in the way that boys were made cuter when you found out that they were utterly sweet to girlfriends, their mothers, and fluffy puppies they rescued from animal shelters.

“Thank you, Jason. Thank you,” Lou Ellen said with a huff.

“So sensitive,” Will teased and got a jab in the side for it.

“So tell me this, what are your guys’ plans for the school year?” Cecil asked curiously changing the subject to keep Lou Ellen from spitting out any curses. “You heading back to California?”

“Yeah, we’re going to be going to high school out there, living with my dad with Hedge maybe,” Piper explained. “Chiron said underaged demigods not living in the camps really should have a protector especially Big Three Kids.”

“You excited?” Lou Ellen asked.

“Very,” Jason said with a smile. “It’s all going to be a nice change, you know I’ll still be busy but I’ve never actually gone to a…you know…high school. I’m looking forward to it all, even though that probably sounds pretty lame.”

“Not lame at all,” Will promised him. “You do sort of deserve a little time off to enjoy the pleasures of being a normal high school student.”

“Better hope that the world doesn’t almost end in this upcoming year, huh?” Piper asked Jason as she tossed him a smile that would’ve melted a glacier.

“Oh Gods don’t even jinx us,” Jason told her warningly, looking up at the sky like his dad might pop down any second with some kind of awful revelations. When that didn’t happen, it seemed appropriate for all of them to burst out into well-meaning laughter. But only after, for good measure.

“Well, that’s what we’re up to for the coming school year. What about you guys? What are you doing?” Piper asked as she stretched a leg out and leaned against Jason, who put an arm over her shoulders. She leaned against him and stole his chips as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and Jason let her do it, only occasionally not giving up a chip.

“I think we’re all staying,” Will told her. There was a very noticeable glint in her eyes at that information.

“So is Nico,” Piper said with an innocent smile. “Good, I’m glad he’ll have some friendly faces around here. Make sure he socializes and eats and all that good stuff, okay?”

“Oh, and badger him to Iris message us. I know he won’t, even if I ask him too,” Jason added.

Will suddenly felt lightheaded. Summer was well and truly ending, yes, but in the few days after their decision to officially “go out” plans for the near-future hadn’t been discussed at all. Will hadn’t even thought that Nico would stay. But then again, what else was Nico going to do? The idea of Nico going out and attempting to live as normal of a high school life as he could was almost laughable, and Nico certainly didn’t have anywhere else to call home. But still, Nico would be there with Will and he might have time and the space to take whatever fledgling thing that was between them and make a full-blown relationship. Just the thought alone was enough to redden Will’s cheeks.

“Yeah, we will,” Will promised Jason and Piper, before they continued to eat their impromptu lunch together.

* * *

“You guys be good, okay? Antonio, don’t drive your mother crazy. Violet, good luck and let me know when your next performance is alright? Emma, if you have any issues in school you let me know, kay? We’ll try to work it out but you have to try to bring up your math grades alright? I know it sucks but you can do it.”

“Yes, Will,” his three younger siblings said as they all hugged him. Violet sniffed and Will wiped away her tears. Will also fixed the buttons on Antonio’s shirt and watched, very pleased, as he took Violet’s hand.

“Love you guys, I’ll talk to you soon okay?” Will promised them. They all promised the same before entering the bus. They all waved at him from the window until the bus pulled away and left him standing alone. Kayla and Austin having already left and gone to say good bye to their own friends.

“You staying for another winter?” Drew Tanaka asked him as she stood next to him, quirking one brow that was perfectly on fleek. She was dressed more like she was walking onto a catwalk as opposed to a school bus in a high-waisted patterned pants, high-heeled boots, and a fleece lined denim jacket but Will didn’t think he could fault her. To Drew Tanaka the whole world was a catwalk to slay. 

“That would be the plan, I can’t seem to get enough of this place,” Will said with a shrug.

“And enough of one boy?” Drew asked as she walked in front of him, fingers twisted and knotted behind her back.

“Don’t be petty,” Will told her, amused by her antics rather than annoyed. She scoffed and twisted a strand of hair around her finger.

“As if. Sweetie, I wrote the textbook on petty,” Drew told him before giving a long-suffering sigh. She was following the track of the kids who were loading up to the bus with her eyes, following Percy and Annabeth as they spoke with Nico. Will wondered idly what she saw in them but as always he was way too afraid to ask. Will knew better than to get Drew going if he could help it. “I can do without Camp Half-Blood for a couple months, since this place is so dreadfully uncool. Like, it’s desert status for sensible footwear and life choices.”

“I think the place has its charms,” Will said with a scoff of his own before smiling fondly. “And we have important memories of important people here. That’s the special thing.”

“Ugh, you are so sentimental,” Drew said with a crinkle of her button nose. “You are going to make me barf, for real.”

“Your bowel functions are the least of my worries young lady,” Will told her with a roll of his eyes.

“Gods, this is why Selena liked you,” Drew told him as she crossed her arms over her chest. “You are such a mom friend.”

“And yet again you prove why Michael thought you could dish out an insult like no other,” Will told her with a smile. She gave him one in return. “Don’t get into too much trouble out there, Drew. Otherwise I’ll definitely hear about it, and I really don’t want to.”

“Me get into trouble? Ha, no. The people I go to school with? Most definitely. Gods, you should have seen who turned up to one of our school dances,” Drew said, before with a toss of her hair and a sway of her hips. She paused for a moment and looked back, seemed to twice think about it, and then she was off to torment another group of kids for the school year. Will turned only to see Clarisse waiting for him to finish up with Drew. She offered her arm, and he took it in a grip.

“We may have had our moments, and by moments I mean sometimes I couldn’t deal with your pansy-ass—”

“Clarisse, you have always had a way with words. Want me to make them rhyme?” Will asked, causing her to cackle as she met his gaze firmly.

“I’ll be with Chris in Arizona, but I’ll try to come up and visit as often as I can. You know, just to check on the kids. It was an honor to serve beside you, both in combat and at home. I’ll be counting on you. I’ve worked with Sherman to prepare him, but as you know, nothing can really match experience. I’ll leave him to you.”

“And I shall do my best, though as you know, it’s very hard to keep Ares kids alive.”

“Don’t I know it,” Clarisse said, and with one more parting nod she left.

“Will!” Katie called and suddenly he was nearly run over by a bunch of the Demeter kids but mostly Katie who seemed content to hug the stuffing out of him. This was followed by a good portion of kids who wanted to wish Will a good year and good luck.

By the time the rest of the buses finally departed Will felt like he had filled his hug quota for the next few months. As always, the day of the end of the summer camp was generally a day where Chiron let everyone have off from regular programed camp activities. With Kayla and Austin off doing their own things, Will felt like he was drifting aimlessly through camp without any specific direction. This was always his least favorite part, Will thought ruefully. He decided that going to the infirmary and moping for a while was probably his best bet, so he began dragging his feet in that direction. 

“Will,” Nico’s voice cut into his wandering. Will looked over to see Nico standing by the training fields.

“Hey, what are you doing over here?” Will asked as he jogged over.

“I was waiting for you,” Nico said plainly, as if he were stating an obvious fact. Will’s cheeks suddenly grew warm, and his heart leapt into his throat at Nico’s attention. Will wasn’t sure he would ever get used to this, but he hoped he would. He didn’t think his heart would take it if it stuttered like that all of the time.

“For me?” Will asked him, not quite believing that this was real. 

“Yeah,” Nico said shortly. He was running leggings and a tee-shirt, despite the cool weather was without his jacket. “I was going to train, I was wondering if you wanted to train with me.”

“Train? Like, with a sword?”

“That would be the idea?”

“With me?”

“Yes, Will. With you.”

“Why?”

“Because you are the godsdamn Pope, obviously,” Nico huffed before adding under his breath. “Are you seriously that dense?”

“I don’t know, it sort of sounds like you want to spend time with me,” Will teased as he knocked his shoulder against Nico.

“In your dreams,” Nico told him as he moved forward a few steps.

“Probably,” Will admitted. Nico didn’t turn around but the way he slightly stumbled over his feet made Will smile. When Nico threw a practice sword at him, Will caught it before putting on a familiar set of armor. Nico decided against it, per usual, but with a few badgering words Will at least got Nico to put on a chest piece.

As always Will was utterly outmatched by Nico. Nico fought more like a wild animal and less like any person that Will had ever met. He struck out hard and fast and seemingly disappeared as soon as a person attempted to get in their own blow. Nico was always just out of reach, and he always managed to disarm Will rather quickly. It also didn’t help that Will was almost laughably bad at sword play. He could hold his head up with the bow, but no matter how much he practiced he always felt clumsy and uncoordinated with a sword.

At one point, after a well- placed body slam Will ended up sprawled face up on the grass, staring up, exhausted, and with his hair sticking to his neck. He winced as he sat up, and unhooked the heavy chest-piece of his armor before tugging off his shirt with a bit of grumbling. Free and feeling much cooler, Will lay back down on the slightly wet grass and decided that maybe commiserating would get him out of another round of ass-whooping.

“I don’t think I’m helping you much,” Will commented as Nico sheathed his sword, he was still looking away from him as he did so.

“You aren’t,” Nico conceded, “but that wasn’t the point I think.”

“Then what was the point?” Will asked as he played with the beads on his necklace.

“Maybe I thought it would be nice to spend time with you.”

“When you say it like that, I might start thinking you like me,” Will told him with a grin. Nico rolled his eyes, but Will noticed the pink color in his cheeks. “If that’s how you feel I don’t mind it when you beat me up, so, feel free to do so any time.”

“Oh? Really?” Nico said as he flopped down next to Will.

“Yeah since it gives me a chance to look at your legs, which, I have to say look very nice.”

“Shut up, Solace,” Nico told him as he tugged on Will’s necklace. Will traced the line of his mouth, seeing Nico’s gaze catch his.

“Shutting up.” 

Will’s heart fluttered in his chest at the sight of Nico’s expression softening. It was the way that Nico just warmed, his sharp features complimented by the sweetness. Will didn’t realize he was reaching out before his hand smoothed against Nico’s cheek.

“Hey,” Will said, feeling starstruck and forgetting what he had just even said, as well as his name, home address and phone number, and what year it was.

“Hi,” Nico said almost shyly, eyelids fluttering. “I’m glad you are feeling better, you looked so down earlier and I didn’t know what to do to make you feel better and I—”

“Nico, you’re babbling,” Will said with a laugh.

“Sorry, nervous habit,” Nico conceded.

“Am I making you nervous?” Will asked worriedly, tracing down Nico’s cheek, to his jaw, fingers trailing against his neck. Nico was cool to his touch, and Will could feel Nico’s heart thrumming in his veins just as hard as his was. 

“No, not really,” Nico said as he caught Will’s hand.

“Then what—”

“Can I kiss you?” Nico asked suddenly, before Will could get another word out edgewise. As if had Nico not spoken up at that very moment, he would have lost his nerve completely. Will blinked furiously, resisting the urge to pinch himself to check if this was a dream.

“Me?” Will asked with a very undignified squeak, his voice creeping up numerous octaves to accommodate. Nico squeezed Will’s hand in his own.

“No, Austin. Yes, you, you dork,” Nico said with a scowl.

“Okay,” Will said way too quickly. “But I just want to tell you that I haven’t brushed my teeth since before breakfast and I probably still smell from the training and I—”

Nico dove down on him and Will ceased thinking all together. From the angle that Nico had descended on him their lips didn’t quite match up perfectly, but as far as he was concerned they didn’t have to. Goosebumps broke out over Will’s skin, heat crawled up his throat, and his heart pounded wetly in his ears. One second, the light pressure of Nico’s soft peck on his lips. The next second Nico was balancing back on his knees and his heels, and Will was staring at Nico completely dumbfounded.

“You were babbling,” Nico said.

“I…huh?” Will asked, feeling lightheaded. “What?”

“So was it okay?” Nico asked hopefully, his cheeks burning red and Will could see he was struggling to keep his neutral expression, but a crooked yet elated grin was attempting to tug at his lips. Kissed lips, lips that Will had just kissed. They had just kissed. Will suddenly felt as if Nico had gifted him the moon.

“I don’t know. I think we have to do it again,” Will told Nico sheepishly as he sat up. “I think I just blanked out or messed up or something.”

“You are ridiculous,” Nico told him with a huff. “It was fine, we don’t have to do it again—”

“Just fine? Our first kiss was just fine? Okay, so we totally need to have a better second kiss,” Will said eagerly resting his forehead against Nico’s, meeting his dark gaze. “Unless, you don’t want another kiss? If you don’t want another, that’s fine. But…but I’d like to kiss you this time. Otherwise it wouldn’t be fair.”

“Fair, huh?” Nico asked, eyes flitting to the side.

“You children of Hades are all about the fairness, or so I’ve gathered.”

“Are you trying to steal a kiss off me?” Nico said as he leaned forward

“It’s not stealing if you are repaying one kiss for another,” Will said back.

“You are absolutely ridiculous.”

“I am,” Will breathed before he kissed Nico again. Nico pressed against him, Will moving his lips against Nico as one kiss melted into the next, into the next. Nico’s fingers were curled in Will’s hair and brushing against the back of his neck and setting his skin on fire. Nico gave a gasp as Will curled his fingers with his, as Will immediately felt as if his stomach was twisting into knots. Will pulled away as fast as he could, taking in a deep breath.

“What’s wrong?” Nico asked suddenly, blinking furiously as if he were dazed.

“I feel really light headed,” Will said as he clapped his hands on his burning cheeks. “And I just got the feeling that if we kept kissing it’d be bad for my health.”

“Oh…oh,” Nico said dumbly. 

“Thank you,” Will said as he turned away slightly gathering up his shirt, resisting the urge to trace his tingling mouth.

“Why did you just thank me?” Nico asked confused.

“For…uh…kissing me?” Will offered, and when Nico snorted he leveled a glare that felt anything but truthful as Will struggled to pull back on his shirt. Finally wrangling it on correctly, he huffed. “I don’t know, what else am I supposed to say.”

“You’re an idiot, Will Solace,” Nico said as he offered his hand. 

“I am, sorry about that,” Will said with a smile as Nico helped to haul him up. 

“That’s alright, it’s one of the things I like about you.”

* * *

“Gods above and below, I hate this about you. Why are you like this?” Nico demanded, arms crossed across his chest.

Will and Nico were standing at the edge of a crossfire. Will was refusing to back down on this one, even though Lou Ellen was watching from the side with Cecil like two spectators viewing a tennis match, eyes flitting between them, and Austin and Kayla had hidden behind some benches though they were peaking out every once in a while.

“I’m sorry that I’m trying to keep you from keeling over,” Will said with a huff.

They were standing slightly past the main section of the training grounds, where Lou Ellen had scrawled a huge magic circle into the ground. Nico was standing inside of it, tapping his foot impatiently. Will sighed as he faced off against him. Nico was glaring at Will, which was relatively intimidating, but if that was enough to deter Will from his purpose then he wouldn’t have gotten as far as he had in life.

“I’m fine, I don’t understand why we are doing all of this!” Nico snapped at Will. “I’ve never needed a magic circle before, and I swear it’s messing up my jumps.” 

“Because first off, we’re practicing your powers to see what you can actually do, and I don’t want you to stretch yourself too thing. Secondly, I don’t want you to ooze dark energy all over the place. And thirdly, and this one here’s the kicker, because I don’t want you to die!”

“Fight me,” Nico dared, eyes sparking with the challenge. 

“You keep being stubborn and I’ll go over there and make you regret saying that!”

“Do it, Solace!” Sherman called from the side not missing the opportunity to egg on a fight. Miranda smacked the back of his head. 

“No, Will, that’s possibly the worst idea!” Kayla cried out.

“Fine, we’ll keep the stupid circle,” Nico huffed, his heart obviously not in the fight for real.

“Good,” Will said resolutely. “Okay. Let’s see how this goes.”

To be all honest, Will wasn’t entirely hopeful about this little experience. It wasn’t that he didn’t want Nico to succeed, just the opposite, Will wanted Nico’s powers to work for him. Will’s own powers certainly didn’t come without a price if he wasn’t being careful. Will had gained a healthy fear of second degree burns through his many trials and errors. But Will had never been afraid of his own powers, afraid that the use of them could make him disappear. Will had no idea whatsoever how that fear might translate, or even be proven true.

Nico planted his feet apart in a track start, as if he were planning to run the 100 meter dash. His eyes were trained on the thicket of trees and the darkness in the shade. Nico pushed off and sprinted past the crowd of curious onlookers. Without stopping he dove straight into shadow, which pulsed and twitched as if it were alive and then swallowed him up whole.

“Holy Hera, he’s gone,” Cecil commented from the side.

“Where do you think he’s going?” Austin asked, popping his head up from behind the bench.

As if to answer his question, there was a distant scream. Will had the strangest sensation as if his feet had been dunked in ice water. Will yelped and fell over as suddenly his shadow bulged and Nico came falling out of it. Nico skidded, hit the side of the magic circle, bounced off like a sugar high kid bounce house, and lay in a groaning heap on his back.

“Are you alright?” Will asked worriedly as he knelt by Nico. Nico slammed his heels into the ground as if he were a child, glaring up at the sky as if Zeus had personally insulted him. Which, honestly, Will was sure had probably happened at some point.

“I don’t know why I can’t do this,” Nico said, colorless eyes searching his face. Will’s heart tugged into his throat, twisting something inside of him. “This should be easy…but…”

“But?”

“But nothing,” Nico huffed sitting up. Immediately his face went white, and he lost his balance. Will caught him, and for a blissful moment Nico rested against Will’s side tucked in safely by his arm. He was cool to the touch, and as Will grasped his hand for a moment Nico felt unworldly light. As if he was grasping a shadow, Will thought in a half-panic.

“Hey Lou, break the circle please?” Will requested. “Kayla, grab me a Gatorade?”

Lou Ellen smudged out an edge with her boot and Kayla ducked into the circle fast. She quickly handed Will a bright orange Gatorade, which Nico took begrudgingly. He sipped it and leaned off of Will, and thankfully this time Will sensed his full weight. He looked more material by the time he wiped his mouth and set down the bottle.

“Feel better?” Will asked hopefully.

“Yeah, a little bit,” Nico conceded. Will held out his hand and Nico allowed Will to take his own. The darkness in his veins was more active then before, but it wasn’t at a worrying level as Will had feared. But for good measure, Will sent a pulse of his power to warm Nico’s fingertips. Will looked up to see Nico staring at Will, as if he were seeing Will for the first time. The look was so intense that Will began to blush—

“Get a room!” Ellis Wakefield called to them as he walked by.

Nico went bright red, flushed and he spluttered. Will didn’t have time to formulate a response to Ellis to explain his very pointed feelings about him and his no good rotten mouth when something reached out from the ground and stopped that line of thought where it had started.

Ellis screeched as a zombie arm grabbed at his leg.

“ _Oh my Gods_!” Austin screamed and jumped on the bench, taking Kayla with him.

“YOU STAY AWAY FROM MY BROTHER!” Sherman shouted as his war-cry and he grabbed the closest weapon which was a gardening hoe. Brandishing it like a spear, he swung it. However he wasn’t expecting the half-emerged zombie to grab it and hold on. Sherman played tug-of-war with the zombie until he wrenched the zombie’s arm off. The sudden freedom sent the hoe out of Sherman’s hands and sailing through the air until the hit a bed of flowers.

“My marigolds!” Miranda cried. “Sherman, seriously what the Hades!”

“My brother!” Sherman pointed out.

“My flowers,” Miranda said, as if it were perfectly understandable that she should put those first. Sherman made a face as if he understood her point.

“Guys! Zombie!” Cecil pointed out as he gave said one-armed zombie a thwack with a broom while Lou Ellen was searching her bag, probably for something that would make this situation worse, and Will grabbed the both of them before the zombie grabbed them and took a bite and hauled them backwards out of the zombie’s one-armed reach.

Nico unsteadily got to his feet with little fanfare. He grabbed the arm, which was seemingly scrabbling for its body but had lost its way and was under the bench that Kayla and Austin were on top of. He gave it a terse look, and it went limp and stopped grabbing at him like it was a puppy that had gotten stuck with its nose in the food bag. He handed the arm back to the zombie who smacked it a few times with his limp arm before succeeding in gripping it. Will kind of wanted to give it a gold star for effort even though he was sweating out of fear for the looming zombie apocalypse. 

“You, get.” Nico ordered, shooing it with the side of his boot.

“Uaaaaaagh,” said the zombie.

“Don’t you sass me. This is your dark prince speaking, get yourself back down into the underworld. _Pronto_.”

“Eurk?”

“Yes I know I summoned you. But it was an accident. No- no you do not need to devour their faces, though I appreciate the thought. Now move along, nothing to see here.”

If the zombie wasn’t a zombie and wasn’t dead, Will could’ve imagined it gave Nico a cross look before disappearing back into the earth that had coughed him up like a hairball.

“Nice going Ellis,” Sherman growled at his brother and punched his shoulder.

“But this means I can summon zombies,” Nico said, very pleased with himself, clenching and unclenching his fists as if testing the raw power that was flowing through his veins. “And that didn’t even bother me one bit.”

“What did you mean you appreciate its thoughts!” Austin said in return, dramatically testing the ground with his toe as if more zombies would come popping out like daisies. Nico just shrugged, obviously not comforting Austin in the slightest.

“Okay okay, everyone let’s break this up. Lunch is starting in a few minutes, so let’s just leave it at that,” Will said as he clapped his hands to get everyone off the slightly gruesome thoughts. He convinced his siblings to get off the table before turning back to the crowd of demigods. “That was a request, I can make it an order.”

“You aren’t the boss of me,” Ellis argued.

“Ellis, how about you don’t dig your own grave,” Cecil offered, grabbing his shoulders and steering him towards the pavilion with Lou Ellen helping to tow him away. Sherman and Miranda followed, Miranda comfortably tucked into Sherman’s side.

“Well come on then, Death Boy, time for lunch,” Will said as he motioned for Nico to tag along.

“Don’t call me that,” Nico said as he stuffed his hands into his sleeves, and then put those into his pocket. He trudged forward, but only a step or two ahead of Will, Kayla, and Austin. Kayla quickly began to chatter about music lessons, Austin pitching in with his two cents every once in awhile. Austin, who was a master at the saxophone, had recently begun challenging himself with the violin to various degrees of success.

Will wasn’t really listening to Austin, he was more concerned with the way that Nico’s curls bounced when he walked. His hair really was getting long, and Will wanted nothing more than to knot his fingers in it. Will wanted to grasp Nico’s arm, to walk in step with him, but he held himself back for Nico’s sake. He had asked that they keep everything on the DL for a while, just as he got comfortable enough to say it. Will wondered with an acute form of misery how long it would be. Will would wait for Nico as long as he needed to, that was sure. And he would never out someone without explicit permission, since Will had nightmares about that kind of thing. But he hoped beyond all hope that it would be soon. Mostly because Will didn’t think he could contain his happiness around Nico all that well if even Ellis was picking up on the vibes.

“What are you sighing for?” Nico asked, walking backwards for a second so he could face Will while they were talking and walking.

“Just tired,” Will lied with a smile. “Don’t walk backwards, you might trip—”

Will spoke the words far too soon as Nico tripped backwards over his feet on a tree root. Will yelped and reached to grab him, but Nico was too far gone and yanked Will onto the ground. Will pushed up, and at that very moment Will’s eyes met Nico’s.

Their faces were close. So close. Too close—

Nico’s face went bright red, and at the feeling of something grabbing Will’s hand, he looked down and found another zombie hand.

“Oh no,” Nico said, rather succinctly.

* * *

“I can’t believe Chiron did that,” Nico groaned as he turned over in his bed. All of the other bed-takers due to the short lived CHB zombie apocalypse had vacated the infirmary, having taken a regiment of ambrosia and nectar and having been promised by Nico that none of them would actually turn into zombies. Will was only a little worse for wear, having needed to do some spontaneous healing on poor Paolo Montes who had gotten a little gnawed on, meaning that he was nearly asleep at his seat. But worse things could happen.

“I know, it was kind of ridiculous,” Will cackled as he pulled his chair close to Nico’s bed. “Alright, give me your leg.”

“I don’t need a babysitter,” Nico grumbled as he offered his leg with a dramatic huff.

“But sitting with me and my siblings at lunch might be fun at least until you get the whole spontaneously summoning zombies thing under control,” Will said before giving Nico’s leg a teasing brush. Nico’s leg jerked back and he glared, but Will definitely saw the blush staining his cheeks. “Why? Do you hate the idea of sitting at meals with me?”

“You know I don’t,” Nico admitted but it also sort of sounded like he was choking on his words, as if he had gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Will couldn’t help but laugh at Nico’s feeble attempt to hide how pleased he was at this turn of events. “But you also realize that to keep sitting together after I get this all sorted out we’ll have to come up with excuses.”

“Chiron won’t be that hard to convince,” Will said with a shrug.

“Why do I get the feeling he knows we’re…you know…going out?” Nico asked Will suspiciously.

“I have no idea of what you are speaking of good sir,” Will said primly as he washed Nico’s sprained ankle with his power before wrapping his foot quickly and efficiently. This was the kind of injury that Will could tend to in his sleep, and honestly with how the infirmary could sometimes get in the height of summer, Will probably had.

“What are you smiling about?” Nico asked Will as he leaned back against the headboard.

“Nothing, I’m just happy to be with you is all,” Will told Nico, realizing that he had indeed been smiling the whole time, but finding no reason to lie.

“I suppose I can live with sitting next to you at meals if I must,” Nico said dramatically with a sigh.

“You’ll well and truly suffer,” Will returned before being unable to help his yawn. He blinked out the tears that wet his eyes, and stretched his arms over his head. 

“You ought to be the one laying down,” Nico observed.

“I might just do that,” Will said sleepily, feeling blurry and tired, the pool of warmth in him only a spark. Everything in him was telling him that it would be a wonderful time to sleep, stretched in the sun, deliriously comfy and warm and he was finding it hard to refuse. “Do you mind?”

“As if I would,” Nico said as he brought one leg to his chest and seemingly settled in. “Go lay down and take a nap.”

Will gave Nico a smile, before laying into the bed under the window, curling up above the sheets he fell into a deep and restful nap that could ease any mind. His dreams were unfettered by his waking worries, he had no worrying dreams, just a sleep that was as soft and sweet as autumn sunlight and sank into him.

And then he woke up.


	13. Break My Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Well, since starting anything with Nico di Angelo obviously isn’t going to go anywhere, and I had no idea why, I…I guess I’m just not going to go for it. If I tried it would be a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Will said as he waved off Cecil. “I mean, how hard could not falling for one boy be?”
> 
> In the aftermath of the battle Will has a strange dream, one that seems to predict his heart being broken by Nico di Angelo. The only problem being, Will has only really talked to him once. Will makes up his mind then and there that falling in love with a boy that will only end up breaking his heart is the last thing he will do. Or so he hopes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LAST CHAPTER 
> 
> I kind of can’t believe it. This fic was pretty much my singular project for 2017, and I put my heart and soul into it. Thank you so much to everyone who supported me in this endeavor, and look out for more projects in the PJO fandom (and possible a Nico POV companion fic). 
> 
> Enjoy!

Will woke up to the sound of giggling.

This wasn’t entirely new to him, but the fact that it only got worse as he stirred was cause for alarm. At first he groggily swatted at his eyes, as if that would dispel the gigglers. However, that seemed to only make the giggles stronger. Will finally opened his eyes, and was face to face with Clovis laying in the next bed. Will yelped in surprise, fell off the bed, and realized there was something on his face and shirt.

Will glared and saw Harley, Heather from Iris Cabin, and Rudy from Hecate Cabin (three of the youngest campers still remaining at camp) burst into laughter as Alice and Julia from Hermes cabin looked on with appreciation. Nico was stifling his own laughter and Will walked over and got a good look at himself in the mirror. He understood the laughter. They had drawn whiskers on his face in eyeliner, someone had connected the dots on his cheek and dashed on blue glitter to form what looked like a Jackson Pollock painting. His shirt was lined with Dora the Explorer stickers.

“Haha very funny guys,” Will told them flatly before eyeing Nico who sat primly on his bed and spat out. “You said I should lie down and take a nap and you have let me be rudely awoken. Oath-breaker.”

“Get wrecked,” was Nico’s succinct reply.

“Oh come on Will, it’s funny,” Julia said with a giggle. “Just a harmless little prank.”

“Prank? Prank? How am I going to get this glitter off my—”

Will pulled down his shirt to emphasize the stickers, when he saw a blue flash on his fingers. He stared at them, at the very familiar blue nail polish that now adorned them. Will felt the blood drain out of his face in an instant.

“Oh no.”

* * *

“Oh no, oh no oh no oh no,” Will said as he desperately as he paced back and forth in Lou Ellen’s cabin. Hecate Cabin looked like the inside of what Will imagined a witch’s hut would. Herbs were hanging and drying, making the air fragrant. There was a work table laden with tools, the bunk beds looked as if they were twisting out of tree trunks. Books lined the walls, papers with hand written spells were stuffed into every available space. Unlike the latent skills of people like Will or Percy Jackson, Hecate demanded that her children work hard and study for great power. The harder they worked and practiced, the better the magic. Will appreciated that about the goddess. It was better than the genetic lottery.

“I thought you said you were okay with this!” Lou Ellen said, half-concerned and half-exasperated, moving a tiny bedside table with candles on it so Will wouldn’t knock into it during his pacing. Candle-making was one of Lou Ellen’s hobby, and Will would have been even more beside himself to wreck her projects.

“I totally lied, I’m not okay with this, I’m not okay at all,” Will said before holding up his hands. “Are you seeing this?”

“Yeah, it’s blue nail polish,” Lou Ellen told him evenly.

“Yeah, the nail polish from my dream! I had nail polish on in my dream! Which means my dream is going to happen soon, really really soon. And I’m really really not okay with that,” Will bemoaned as he sank down on an empty bunk. “And I thought everything was going so well. We kissed, and we were flirting, and we were having so much fun together and I don’t want this to end. I don’t want to break up with Nico.”

“Maybe you should take it off?” Lou Ellen offered.

“How long does nail polish last?” Will asked nervously.

“I don’t know? A week, maybe two depending on the brand.”

“Then I can’t take it off! This is the only thing telling me how much time I have left.”

At that moment Cecil burst into the room, his usual cheer was gone. He looked madder than a wet hen.

“I really gave it to Julia and Alice, Gods I can’t believe they did that. Pranks are all fun and good but it is against cabin policy to utilize other people’s powers to do them especially when they can’t consent. They actually moved Clovis out of his hammock! And of course, Conner isn’t going to tell them no,” Cecil said before looking at Will, his anger turning into alarm. “Will, are you crying?”

“Yes,” Will answered, rubbing away his frustrated tears. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

“No Will, don’t cry,” Lou Ellen half-begged him as she cupped his cheeks. Cecil sat down next to him and slung his arm over Will’s shoulder. “It’s okay, we’re going to figure this out somehow.”

“It’s going to be alright. Who’s to say you haven’t already changed the future?” Cecil offered hopefully, giving Will’s shoulders a comforting squeeze.

“Maybe it’s like Achilles and the whole two fates thing. Maybe you’ve already chosen what path you’re going to go down,” Lou Ellen said as she went to grab tissues and give them to Will. Will gratefully received them and blew his nose.

“How did that end up for Achilles again?” Cecil asked worriedly.

“Uh, he died.”

“Oh. Great. Nothing to worry about then?” Cecil said, his voice raising to make the statement almost a question.

“I’m doomed,” Will said miserably, putting his face in his hands. “ _I’m doomed._ I ran out of the infirmary—what if Nico thinks I’m mad at him? What if that’s why we break up? I need to go back and—”

“Will, breathe,” Lou Ellen demanded of him. The electric kettle clicked as it finished boiling, and she got up. She quickly placed a homemade bag of tea mix in a chipped mug, measured out honey and cream, before shoving it in Will’s hands. “Drink that, Hecate cabin’s signature calming tea mix. I’m going to mix up all sorts of spells. Cecil, I’m probably going to need you to get some things.”

“Okie dokie,” Cecil said, springing up and saluting her before turning to Will. “We’ll fix this somehow, Will. Don’t you give up hope, okay? Somehow we’ve made it through so much, and it was because you had our backs. It’s time that we had yours.”

“You guys…” Will half-choked. His heart was brimming—no overflowing with love for these two dorks. He felt the place where his power came from, where the sunlight that spilled from inside of him, respond to the sudden wave of emotion. He gave them both a tearful smile. “I love you guys. No matter what anyone may say, you guys are the best.”

“Don’t we know it?” Lou Ellen said, while Cecil just smiled back. 

Will ended up leaving Lou Ellen’s cabin after the sun had dipped down past the horizon. Will was holding a jar of potpourri that Lou Ellen had made up for him. Will stopped on his way to his cabin, unable to help ducking into the pavilion. He looked to the offering table, the goblets and the flowers. Will placed the jar on the table and lit a candle.

“Are you there Dad? It’s me Will,” he opened up before laughing. “Yeah, yeah I know bad reference. But I guess that’s all I have right now. I just thought that maybe since this is sort of the end of the line I should probably talk…or pray to you or whatever.”

“I’m going out with Nico di Angelo now. I know you met him at some point, but he’s really amazing. And I’m not just saying that. He’s strong and he’s actually really kind but he doesn’t want anyone knowing it. And he’s considerate, and he’s a total dork. He’s a little creepy too but that’s part of the charm. It’s a son of Hades thing I’m pretty sure,” Will said with a laugh. “And I’ve been having fun every day since we started going out, like so much fun. Nico’s funny and he’s really awesome to just hang out with. Gods, he’s got a great sense of humor. And we—we just sort of get each other. It’s not like one of those things you have to work for, when you really just get a person. And I feel like, it’s starting to all become real. Like we can make something real out of this thing we have together as long as we are together. But I had this dream…Dad. A prophetic dream, one that told me that Nico was going to break up with me. And I don’t want it to be true, because I don’t want it all to end like that. Not when it’s all just beginning. Not when there’s like a whole relationship to have.”

Will took a deep breath, steadying himself against the table. When he felt like he had the strength, he straightened up.

“Dad, I know I’m probably one of the last people on the whole planet you actually care about. I know that. I’ve never asked you any favors, not in my entire sixteen years. I’ve never asked you for special treatment or anything. Maybe that’s been my problem, you only help those who help preen your feathers and I haven’t been willing to do it. Well you know what? I’m ready now. Hit me with your requests, but in return you have to give me the truth behind this dream. Behind this prophecy. What even is the point of it? Why would I get it? Maybe just talk to me? Tell me…something? Anything? I’m really open to anything at this point if I’m being real. So just lay it all on me, Dad. Hit me with your infinite godly wisdom or something, I actually have no idea how that all works but I’m really open to anything. So just…go ahead I guess?”

Will offered up jazz hands to the table. Nothing particularly magical happened, nor did Will feel any change to himself. After a few moments of waiting around for nothing, Will sighed and ran a hand through his curls.

“Alright. Radio silence. I guess we can’t all be important demigods who get gods to notice them all the time,” Will commented before wincing at how that came out. He hadn’t meant to sound as bitter as he did. “Well, I tried. But just know, I’m here if you ever change your mind.”

Will left the dining pavilion in much the same mood he had gotten there, with seemingly nothing accomplished besides having the sound of silence ringing in his ears.

That night Will didn’t get to sleep right away, which wasn’t normal for him. Will tended to start getting tired the moment the sun sunk underneath the horizon. But instead he tossed and turned on his cot for a while, trying to get comfortable and not being successful. Eventually at some point he must of drifted off out of sheer lateness and exhaustion, but when that was Will had no clue.

That night Will didn’t have any dreams about Nico. Instead Will had a dream about a falling star. A vivid and disconcerting dream that did little to give him restful sleep. In his dream Will was watching that falling star streak across a winter’s sky, a bright burst against the seam of night. Instead of the usual feelings of wonder that should have accompanied such a sight, Dream Will instead had an acute sense of dread as he watched it trail and disappear in the light of the city as if it had never been in the first place.

“Weird,” Kayla noted sitting next to him on the steps of Cabin Seven, she was bundled up and had been sipping hot chocolate from a mug with foxes on it, however she drew the mug away from her lips as she stared up as if the sky had just perplexed her with a bizarre question. Her hair was dyed green, but parts of her natural red roots were beginning to show.

“I have a bad feeling about that,” Austin mumbled as he buried his chin more firmly in his wool scarf and ducked further into his pea coat, rubbing his arms as if to protect himself from something more than just the cold. He had placed his own mug next to him and left it wafting steam into the winter air, and continued to look up and search for the star that had disappeared. “I don’t know if it’s an omen, but whatever it is I get the feeling it certainly isn’t good.”

“Same here,” Dream Will said, craning his neck up as he continued to look at that sky that somehow looked slightly dimmer without the radiance of that fallen star. He hoped it was nothing, but he knew that in the life of a demigod that was often too much to hope for. “Same here.”

* * *

“Are you mad at me?”

It was Nico’s question as they stood by the target practice. Will ogled at Nico, the suddenness of the question taking him really off guard. It was a sort of cloudy day, the kind of day that always made Will feel sluggish. The sky was grey and lit everything with a dreary tinge. Will was making the most of the UV that he could get, turning his face up often to the sky. 

“Mad at you? Why?” Will asked, confused and concerned.

“Yesterday you sort of ran out of the infirmary,” Nico explained as he lined up his shot with the bow. He took the shot with confidence and ended up in the blue ring, which was a pretty decent shot if you asked Will. Nico looked dissatisfied, as he lowered his bow and looked towards Will. “I didn’t know that was going to upset you as much as it would. I’m really sorry.”

“It’s okay, honestly,” Will lied. “I was just flustered is all. I wasn’t mad at you. If anything it was Alice and Julia, but they are always like that. And of course, Conner can’t be asked to reign them in.”

“Are you sure?” Nico said with a suspicious sideways glance, not looking convinced at all.

“Very sure, I promise.”

“Okay then,” Nico said with a sigh that sounded relieved, and that made Will’s heart twist in his chest.

“I’m sorry I worried you like that,” Will told him.

“Why? You don’t have to be worried about me, I’m fine,” Nico said as he strung another arrow in the bow. His posture was a little off and his stance was closed. Will reached to give Nico’s leg a tap to remind him to move his feet to balance better. Nico did so automatically, and gave another shot. He was still in the blue ring, but the shot had looked much better.

“You’re getting better at this,” Will commented.

“When you are getting tutored by children of Apollo you ought to hope you would be,” Nico scoffed as he rolled his shoulders. “I’ll keep to my sword though.” 

“Sort of a shame, you give me a run for my money with the bow,” Will said as he lined up his shot. He took a steadying breath and let the arrow fly. It hit off center in the red, and Will cracked his neck as he appraised the shot. It wasn’t too bad considering his history with archery, though it was always annoying that he could never seem to get better considering he was a son of the god of archery himself.

Will’s thoughts were immediately broken by the feeling of Nico’s hands on his shoulders and pulling him backwards. Will staggered his feet, trying to stand and turn his head to look at Nico’s expression, which was very annoyed as he looked down at him.

“What are you doing?” Will squeaked. It was weird seeing Nico from this angle, not that Will really minded it one bit. Though Nico was handsome short, he would probably look equally handsome tall. Nico would probably look good any which way frankly.

“You’re tall and it’s annoying me for some reason today,” Nico told him bluntly.

“I’m really sorry?” Will offered nervously and Nico let him go, looking very dissatisfied with Will’s answer. Will stood back up, thankful to regain his bearing before looking to Nico apologetically. “I’m no good am I? I guess it would help you better to get tips from someone who’s around your height right? And not to mention someone who’s better at archery than I am.”

Nico didn’t answer immediately but instead caught his arm. Will turned to face him, and Nico grabbed his chin. Nico pulled him down firmly, looking him right in the eye without any hesitation. Will couldn’t help the shiver that ran up his spine.

“I don’t like it when you talk bad about yourself,” Nico told him pointedly, though from his tone it sounded more like an order.

“You talk bad about yourself sometimes,” Will reminded him somewhat weakly.

“If you dislike it as much as I dislike this then I won’t do it as much,” Nico told Will. Will leaned down and kissed Nico, catching Nico’s next words with his mouth. 

Nico’s traced the length of Will’s neck with his fingers, the coolness of his touch sending goosebumps rippling across his skin. Will closed the distance in an instant. They kissed chastely, Will curling his arms around Nico’s waist to bring him as close as possible while Nico’s fingers combed through his hair. He tugged, and Will gasped. Kissing Nico was like nothing else, it was utterly thrilling. He wanted to be able to kiss him all the time, to have Nico’s kisses burn his skin and mark him—scar him so he would never forget the feeling of Nico’s affection even if Nico left him.

And then Will felt the tentative brush of Nico’s tongue against his own.

Oh my god, tongue, tongue, Will thought half-shocked, half-delighted. He was nearly giddy. He was making out with Nico, Nico was making out with him and they were kissing with tongue. Will couldn’t even believe it—

Will heard a noise, which on second thought was obviously his siblings coming back towards the shooting range from the bathrooms. Nico flinched and Will felt pain burst over his tongue as Nico bit down. Will yelped, slapped a hand over his mouth, and doubled over. There wasn’t any blood, thank goodness, but it was mostly the surprise of it that had Will reeling.

“Oh my Gods, Will, I’m so sorry!” Nico said as he knelt by Will.

“It’s okay…I’m okay,” Will promised him weakly.

“Holy crap, did you try to beat up our brother?” Kayla asked half-amused and half-worried as Kayla and Austin rushed to Will’s side. Will gave his siblings a watery, but amused look, while Nico spluttered and gasped.

“And he won,” Will said if only to tease Nico, removing his hand from his mouth after running his tongue over his teeth to assure that everything was in working order. Nico scoffed and rolled his eyes with a blush. “Nico always wins.”

“Shut up, dork,” Nico said with a sigh, offering his hand to help Will up. Will took it gratefully, squeezing his fingers to assure himself that he wouldn’t disappear.

* * *

“ _What in tarnation—_?” Will demanded as he walked into his cabin the next day. He had been moderating a cabin dialogue between Hephaestus and Demeter cabins, to resolve an ongoing issue about scorching daisies. When he had left earlier, the cabin had been in the usual working order. But now he wasn’t even sure he was in the right place.

“Did you actually say ‘what in tarnation’ or did I just have a stroke?” Kayla asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Kayla! Austin!” Will said, walking into a fake cobweb and swatting it away from his face. “What is this?”

“Halloween decorations, duh?” Austin asked as he moved and a dancing skeleton began belting out the monster mash. “I don’t remember you being such a Scrooge, Will.”

“First off, Scrooge is Christmas. Secondly, I said moderate decorations, what about this is moderate?” Will asked as he nearly knocked over a witch into her cauldron, shaking some hay out of his boots. “Seriously, guys, are you just trying to screw with me? What have you done to my plants?”

Will gathered up Al (his aloe plant) and rubbed its pot. The plant itself was fine, but stuck in the dirt was minitombstones, and on the pot itself was shimmery spider-webs and ghosts. He gave his siblings a look before placing down his plant down next to its siblings among the black cats and mini-pumpkins. The windows were covered with Halloween window-stickers, and the bunks were all strung up with orange pumpkin lights.

“We just decorated them,” Austin told him with a huff.

“Seriously? Today of all days?” Will asked, relatively heated. Both Kayla and Austin flinched at Will’s tone, but Will didn’t necessarily care. “And you guys realize that Halloween is like, a Celtic thing right? Different pagan religion right? Do you want to get us struck down? How did you guys even manage all of this while I was gone?”

“We had a little help,” Kayla said slowly.

“Who?” Will asked suspiciously. 

The cabin door swung open to reveal Paolo who smiled at them, he was carrying a box bursting with still more Halloween direction. Kayla fluttered her eyelashes, smiled, and waved at him. He said something in Portuguese, placed down the box and then left.

“No,” Will said pointing at Kayla, positively livid at this point. “No.”

“Oh come on Will, you can’t be the only one allowed to ogle at Paolo!” Kayla whined at him with a pout. “He’s basically a work of art!”

“No!” Will said, still pointing at Kayla, trying to feel for the door behind him.

“But Will—”

“No! You are not allowed to flirt with Paolo,” Will informed Kayla as he finally grabbed the door handle. “Now excuse me while I go introduce my foot to his ass!”

“No, Will, don’t embarrass me!”

“Consider it already done!” Will warned her, walking out and slamming the door behind him.

Will stomped forward, trying to figure out the logistics of giving a shovel talk to someone who didn’t speak the same language as him. In fact, the only English Paolo seemed to know was “Yes” and “No”, “Please and Thank You” and the title sequence of Law and Order SVU. He wasn’t sure that wild gesticulating would cut it, nor did he think that Paolo would get it. Was there different body language signs for things in different countries? Will was suddenly seized by the thought. Well, he had never left the USA so he didn’t know and he didn’t speak any language fluently besides English. Will could read ancient Greek but other than that he had nothing. He guessed there probably must have been, but there was some universal signs of disapproval that he could certainly use to intimidate Paolo. Though that was unlikely, considering that Will wasn’t particularly intimidating himself.

“Woah, Will, what’s going on?” Nyssa asked him as they ran across each other.

“Paolo is flirting with my sister, or my sister is flirting with Paolo. I don’t know either way, and still I’m distressed,” Will told her as he rubbed the back of his neck with his hand.

“Clearly,” Nyssa said as she observed him. “But can Paolo even flirt with Kayla? Paolo doesn’t speak English.”

“Does it matter? There is some sort of canoodling happening and I don’t like it.” 

“Why? All the hot boys in the camp don’t belong to you, Will,” Nyssa cackled.

“Well they should,” Will said haughtily. “I don’t want to deal with this today. Really I don’t.”

“Is that Will Solace I hear, talking about boys?” asked Mitchell from Aphrodite cabin as he crossed across the green from where he and his cabin mates had finished playing a round of volley boy.

“Hold your horses, I am not commenting on any rumors in the Aphrodite Cabin rumor mill. No thank you,” Will said, holding up his arms like an x. “I’m pleading the fifth. I’m just trying to find Paolo so I can get him to stop bringing Halloween stuff to my dorm.”

“Do they even celebrate Halloween in Brazil?” asked Mitchell curiously, his big doe eyes on the both of them in curiosity. Will had always liked Mitchell, he could be sort of a pushover, but he was steady at heart and would do what was right. At the same time he would not like to be getting on Mitchell’s radar with the Nico situation still being hushed.

“Day of the Dead maybe,” Nyssa said with a shrug. “He’s probably getting into the spirit for his first American Halloween.”

“So Paolo isn’t just popping in to…you know, scope out the availability?” Mitchell asked, half-curious and half-egging Will on.

“What availability?” Will asked, knowing he shouldn’t.

“Yours!”

“Me? My sister was making googly eyes at him, not me—okay strike that, I have made googly eyes at him but only to check on his healing, he has a penchant for ending up in my infirmary,” Will told Mitchell with a sigh.

“He is pretty good looking,” Nyssa said with a shrug. “If di Angelo wasn’t so obvious, I would say Paolo would be a cute boy to date.”

“Wha—what?” Will spluttered out in shock, in spite of himself and the fact he was actually going out with Nico and very pleased about it, he blushed very obviously. This only seemed to spur Mitchell’s excitement on.

“I know right?” Mitchell squealed excitedly. “Will, Nico’s so into you. You have got to start going out, though he is kind of scary. But seriously Will, who? Is it a girl? A boy? Both? Who’s your—”

Interestingly enough, Mitchell’s words died on his lips and ended with a squeak. Will turned around, only to see Nico standing a bit off to the side. He was looking at Mitchell and Nyssa so intensely that it looked as if he was looking through their skin and bones.

“Hey Nico,” Will greeted as pleasantly as possible, despite the fact his own skin was crawling from Nico’s black, dark stare as it turned on him. Will swore he could see an eternity in that gaze, and it was an eternity spent somewhere unpleasant. Mitchell shrank back, obviously terrified. Nyssa held her breath.

“Come with me,” Nico said shortly, grabbing Will’s arm. It wasn’t a harsh grip, just adamant. Will gave Mitchell and Nyssa an apologetic look before allowing Nico to pull him away. Will let Nico pull him away, a bit, until they were at Nico’s cabin which was far enough away from the others that they had a modicum of privacy.

“Nico, talk to me,” Will said as he touched Nico’s hand on his arm. “It’s okay. I’m sure if we go back, they’d apologize to you.”

“They were talking about you,” Nico said tersely, his expression unreadable. “I didn’t like how they were talking about you.”

“About me?” Will asked, confused. “You mean, about who I like? Nico, I like you. I don’t like anyone else.”

“I know that,” Nico said harshly, his breath coming out almost like a growl. “I know.”

“Then what’s wrong?” Will continued to probe, seeing turmoil cracking from under Nico’s expression.

“It felt like they were spreading rumors about you.”

“About me? I’m not really a hot topic here at CHB,” Will said, blinking rapidly.

“Are you kidding me?” Nico asked with a raised eyebrow. “Really? What kind of mirror are you looking in?”

Will rocked back on his heels. He was mostly taken aback by the implication of what Nico was saying. Talking as if Will was the hot one in this relationship, which, obviously Nico was but…

“I can tell from your face that you don’t believe me,” Nico surmised surprisingly quick. 

“It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. I only care about your feelings right now. What are you feeling?” Will asked him, honestly having no clue on what to feel. Nico’s jaw worked as he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. When he opened his eyes again, the crawly-cold-pressure was gone. His eyes were once again reflective.

“I feel like I’m…ugh this is going to sound so stupid,” Nico said as he scrubbed at his face. “There was this time I was playing…Mythomagic with Frank.”

“You play Mythomagic?” Will asked, surprised.

“I mean…yes,” Nico said after a painfully uncomfortable pause. He rubbed his hands together, but as far as Will could tell it was more to comfort himself instead of from the cold. “Well…anyways. We were playing and doing the standard attack-defense kind of play. You know—or I don’t know—uh, he had an Athena—3000 attack, plus 100 knowledge on the field, and he had activated a Golden Fleece—which lets you retrieve three cards from the graveyard and adds 200+ health. Anyways, I had played Aphrodite which though she only have 1000 attack can use “charm” so it lets you turn over all the cards in your opponent’s hand. So I saw Frank’s hand, and he had a really good one. He had a Pegasus equip and a Hercules and even a Cerberus. Then of course he had a dryad which is like, 50 attack 50 defense and a nature bonus. And I thought I had his moves figured out. With his hand I would equip the Athena with Pegasus, put Cerberus on defense, and then attack me. But…instead of doing what I expected he played the dryad in offense for some reason. It was so weird and I just couldn’t figure out why he did that and even though the game continued on past that it was the only thing I could think of. I could not understand why or how or for what purpose.”

“And is that how you feel about me?” Will offered, searching Nico’s face for the answer.

“No, that’s how I feel about me and my feelings. I’m just all over the place right now,” Nico said with a sigh before turning to the door of his cabin. “I just…I’ll talk to you later. I just need to think about everything for a bit.”

Nico turned and entered into his cabin without another word. Will gathered himself up as much as possible and left Cabin 13 in favor of his own. But seeing it was a Haunted Horror Night, Will just gathered up his blanket and went out to find some peace and quiet as far away from the docks as possible. The dryads gave him a look as he entered the strawberry fields, but among the rows he found a spot and lay himself down for a nap. He must have fallen asleep at some point, because when he was stirred he found his siblings laying on his oversized blanket with him.

“Hey, you okay?” Kayla asked him and Will looked over at where she was laying, head turned away from Will green-red hair splayed on the blanket. It was sort of bizarre though it was autumn elsewhere, the camp’s magic was particularly strong over the strawberry fields where the sun felt strong and hot and syrupy against his skin.

“I’m alright. I had words with Nico. I think he might be mad, or upset. He couldn’t really explain it, but he isn’t mad at me. So, I guess that’s something,” Will said as he lifting his hand to gaze at his blue painted nails. He let his hand fall limp at his side.

“You guys and your drama,” Austin muttered from where he was curled up on his side, close to Will but not quite touching.

“We’ll get through it, I just have to believe in that,” Will told him.

“Lee totally would’ve said something like that,” Kayla grumbled.

“Michael would have grumbled about it,” Austin told her, a smile in his voice, but his shoulders were slumped sadly. “I miss them.”

“Me too,” Will told them.

“Can you believe it’s been years? It feels…it feels like just yesterday. It pisses me off,” Kayla told both of them her voice quiet. “I want to punch both of them. And then hug them. Really hard.”

“Hug? Or punch?” Will asked, and both Kayla and Austin laughed.

Their laughter trailed off into quiet. There was only the sound of birds, the wind through the strawberry bushes, the distant buzz of insects to accompany them. Will didn’t think that there was a good answer to any of this. But huddled together on their blanket, just for a moment Will felt as if they were the only ones in the world, floating together down a stream with no direction. Will figured that sometimes wallowing in that pool was the best solution they could come up with. 

“Sorry about the cabin,” Austin finally said.

“I’m not really mad about it. Lee and Michael would want us to be doing fun stuff like that, as often as possible,” Will promised him. “They’d certainly cackle to see my feathers rustled. No harm no foul. I love you guys, even when you drive me crazy.”

“Yeah,” Kayla said, with a small sniff. “Yeah. If he breaks up with you, that’ll be his loss. Because you’re the best.”

“Nah, you guys are the best,” Will told them, closing his eyes and smiling.

* * *

“Will, could you come? Quickly?” Harley asked nervously. He looked pale and panicked, and though Will never liked seeing anyone in distress, but especially little kids. Will pulled away from the desk and stood up.

“Is something wrong?” Will asked as he gathered up his emergency kit began jogging with him.

They were on the edge of the lake with some other campers. Alice was crying, holding her hand which had been pierced with a fishing hook. Over on the side a naiad was laying down with her leg raised and her foot bent in a strange direction while her sisters all hissed at the campers from a safe distance away.

Will quickly dealt with the fish hook, sending only a glimmer of his power in and wrapped Alice’s hand while giving her a lecture about respecting the mythical creatures of CHB. He also dealt with the naiad, who he apologized profusely to for the trouble, and hoped that she and her sisters wouldn’t feel privy to drowning any campers that he would need to revive.

Exhausted, Will sat back on the dock like he had down a million times before. The autumn breeze crisp and clean as it flitted from the lake carrying with it the scent mist and strawberry. The sky was almost blindingly bright and blue, while the trees were just tinged with just a blush of color. Will blinked, and blinked once again as a particular fluffy cloud had him searching for answers. It all looked familiar. Very, very familiar. Déjà vu creeped across his skin, raising his hair.

“Hey, can I sit?”

Will turned his head, seeing Nico. He was wearing his leather jacket, looking healthy and whole, and yet slightly worried.

“Yeah, of course,” Will said, patting the dock next to him. He wanted to say no. To say he couldn’t, to run away, but he wanted to meet this head on. For both their sakes. They sat together for a while, not saying anything. Will reached out, touching Nico’s hand with his. Nico looked up, surprised, before turning his hand over so that their fingers curled together.

“Will…I…”

“Am I…is this…alright?” Will asked nervously, the words just coming out. He felt like his face was burning, like he was about to throw up.

“Hey Will?”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t think we should do this anymore,” Nico said, looking at him, looking through him. But Will noticed that he didn’t pull away from Will’s touch.

“Do what?” Will asked him, feeling like he was choking.

“This ducking around corners thing…I…” Nico said, seemingly struggling with how to explain he feelings, before meeting Will’s eyes. “I want to come out, I want to come out as your boyfriend. I’m not ashamed of you, and I don’t want you to feel like I am.”

Will wasn’t sure what Nico was expecting of him, but when Will reached out to cup Nico’s face he nearly flinched. Will looked at Nico in wonder, admiring him, unsure of how they had gotten to this point but half sure that this was a dream. Nico melted into Will’s touch, allowing him to press a kiss to the top of his head and pull him into a hug.

“I know you aren’t,” Will said as he hugged Nico tightly. “I never felt that way. I like you and I’m with you, no matter what.”

“I like you too, Will,” Nico said, muffled against Will’s flannel, his arms holding Will tight.

“Can we just stay like this maybe,” Will said with a content sigh. “You are a perfectly huggable size.”

“Wait—what—” Nico demanded with an insulted squawk. He tried yank Will away, but Will was so entangled with him, that they both ended up crashing into the cold water. Nico spat water at him, and growled swears at Will as he lifted Nico up and dunked him once more, but Will couldn’t have minded less.

“You guys are so dumb,” Lou Ellen told them as they ended up in the infirmary later on, both with a wicked cold. Cecil was heating up soup while his siblings ran around and tried to deal with some wounded campers, Ellis was recuperating along with Nyssa from a nasty fight in the training arena as Billie Ng fretted over her, Chiron was reading the paper over by the desk.

“This would be my boyfriend’s fault, not mine,” Nico said, grumpy, ruffled, and looking out from the pile of blankets he had buried himself under.

“Losers,” Ellis grumbled under his breath, but looked somewhat pleased. Nyssa smiled and Billie jabbed her under the ribs. His siblings looked at each other and slapped high fives.

“This I can’t argue,” Will said with a wide grin.

Chiron just hummed, turned the page, and smiled.


End file.
